The boy across the street
by MintMainia
Summary: Katelyn Barr has been through a lot, being a cancer survivor and all, however, when she's mistaken for being a boy named Kevin at her new school, she might just be in for the toughest and oddest test of her life. At least she has made a friend… said friend being Eddward Vincent - Peach Creek's outcast. Nathan & Rave later on - not my characters. Updates: Last day of the month.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Too late for corrections_

**Katelyn Josephine Barr,** 16 years old, ginger hair, big green eyes, pale skin that's covered in freckles, glasses, thin/scrawny, champion of the Quiz Bowl club(proven by her red/black cap), fear needles, nerd/dork, loves mechanics and mathematics, quite brilliant, yet still in the freshman year of high school as she is now – officially – _a cancer survivor_. She is also the new neighbor girl in a small qul-de-sac in peach creek, as she and her parents just moved in, and the new student of Peach Creek High. _She is also super late for her first day at her new school. _

Standing by the front door, waiting for her mother to get ready to leave and driver off to school, Katelyn takes the time to re-watch some of the _'good luck'_ videos her friends at the Lemon Brook Hospital made for her as her long and painful treatment finally reached its end. Having been at the hospital for nearly 1.5 years, you tend to miss out a lot of school, but also make some special quality friends. Friends that will remember you till the day they die, even if they don't hear from you ever again.

In the videos there are people from different ages and genders. Nurses, doctors and patients that she befriended over the course of the treatment, standing next to each other and waving at the camera, and then it's just videos of them one at the time telling her how happy they are for her, how they're going to miss her and how much they wish the world for her. It's hard not to smile at them and their incredible kindness. The End-Of-Treatment-Day had been one of the best as well as one of the saddest in her life. There had been a lot of crying, and for many different reasons, a lot of hugging and sobbing in each other's arms. Her cancer was finally gone, and she was able to return home to live a normal life outside of hospital walls and colors. But she would also be moved far away from all of her friends, to start anew in a brand new town, at a brand new school, in a brand new world. She was nervous, obviously, and it didn't really help with the fact that she was running incredibly late for her first day, just because her mother didn't like the idea of her riding her motorcycle to school so soon after being off the treatment, and thus made the decision to drive her, only to realize in the last second that the car keys were gone. Now, her mother and father are running around like crazy hens in their brand new house (brand new to them, not brand new as in it was built recently – this house surely has seen some stuff) on the hunt for the missing keys while she's standing by the front door, looking at them and thinking if she should just go out and walk to school, or if it will even be worth it by now.

"FOUND THEM!" Her father cries out after entering the laundry room – out of all places. "They were still in my pants pocket. Must've forgotten."

Her mother just groans and snags them from him before grabbing Katelyn's backpack and rushing out the door with her daughter on her tail. They get in the car and Katelyn barely has any time to put the seatbelt on, let alone close the car door, before her mother has the car started up and driving out of the cul-de-sac. It's not that far to the school, but her mother really didn't want her to drive her motorcycle or walk, so she just sits back in the seat, holding on for dear life as her mother really puts the car's safety up to the test. Once at the school's parking she hits the brakes hard and rushes Katelyn out and literally drags her in the building. They haven't missed that much out of the day, but the first lesson is surely about to end, if it hasn't already, given the lack of students in the halls.

Her mother still has a firm grip around her wrist and pulls her after her as she rushes through the hallways, searching for a teacher or anyone who can help them find Katelyn's first class. After a lot of asking, someone actually decides to walk with them to the classroom. Her mother thanks the person many times before knocking on the classroom door and waiting for the teacher to open it. The door opens and a very young looking girl stands before them, looking very uncertain of what to do about them. They simply stand and stare at each other for a few hundredths of a second before another person enters the doorway. It's an older woman with her hair in a bun and a pair of glasses on her nose. She sends the young girl back into the classroom and opens the door a bit more to eye them up and down. A sense of discomfort begins to form in Katelyn's stomach, and is she ever so thankful that her mother is the open and talkative person that she is as she takes control of the situation and introduces them to the older woman.

"I am so sorry that we're late!" She begins saying with a stressed voice. "We couldn't find the car keys and I really didn't want Kate to ride the bike in this weather."

"Ah!" The older woman says, a mix of understanding and realization hitting her face. "You're the Barr kid. Come in, come in! We've been waiting for you!"

Katelyn eyes her mother for a brief second before smiling at the woman and walking in through the door, saying goodbye to her mother who smiles warmly at her before turning around and walks away. The door closes and the older woman walks back to her spot at the front of the classroom while Katelyn remains where she is until she's told to move closer. Standing a bit awkwardly next to the older woman, Katelyn eyes carefully the room full of students that's before her. Boys and girls of different categories and groups are all staring at her for a moment before some of them in the back (she's assuming they are the "cool kids") return to looking down at their phones – or their crotches.

"Alright class!" The older woman says to the students that obviously don't care about anything. "The new student has arrived – a bit later that what's allowed, but what can you do? Unforeseen events can happen, but–"

The door opens once more, much rougher and at such a high speed that it slams into the wall with a bang, making everyone look that direction once more – Katelyn included. A tall boy stands in the doorway, looking straight at her with an almost surprised expression on his face, but it soon blends into one of pure boredom. He wears a black beanie with white stripes on each side, covering his head and eyebrows. His eyes are bright blue, with is a big/beautiful contrast to the dark raven hair that's managed to escape the beanie's prison at the base of his neck. Though his eyes are a bright blue color, they are also very dark in a frightening way, which suits well with his pale olive skin that – from what she can tell – isn't dirtied by a single birthmark. She somewhat envies him that. He wears a black leather jacket over an open dark grey hoodie which reveals a bright red shirt underneath and a small chain around his neck with two dog tags close to his heart. His pants are black jeans and he wears some sort of black shoes… vans, maybe? She isn't really sure, and to be honest, he isn't really the kind of person you'd ask fashion questions to, even if he looks like something out of a teenage girl's dream, standing with his hands in his pockets and what not. It isn't until the old woman starts talking again that Katelyn realizes that she's been staring at him this whole time, but then again, he's been staring at her this whole time too.

"Eddward." The old woman says with a less optimistic/interested tone in her voice. "We didn't think you would show up today. Please, have a seat. We have a new student in class today."

The boy, Eddward apparently, shifts from looking at Katelyn to the old woman as she talks to him, but then shifts back to looking at Katelyn before simply turning on his heels and walks off to sit down at an empty desk, not saying a word. Even if she might be new and all, Katelyn can still sense the odd atmosphere that's taken a hold of the classroom as soon as that boy entered. The way the students eyes him and seems to be just uncomfortable to have him in their presence gives her a slight lump in her guts, but she does her best to ignore it. He sits down with a somewhat silent thud and leans back in the chair while looking back at her through his lashes as he keeps his head low. Katelyn gulps, as the way he stares at her reminds her of a documentary they showed at the hospital about lions, how they live and all. She remembers that they showed how they lower their heads when they hunt, to keep themselves hidden and to focus on their prey – or whatever they said, she doesn't really remember. What she does remember is that the lions would look at their prey the same way he looks at her right now – head low, eyes dark yet focused.

Katelyn can vaguely hear the older woman talk again, but she's too distracted too really hear what she's saying. If she had, then she would've been able to correct the slight mistake the older woman has apparently made when it comes to her name.

"Well, even though you are a bit late to follow the rest of the class, we really do hope you're going to feel welcome here, Kevin."

"Wh–?" Katelyn snaps her head from the boy to the woman, eyes big as saucers as she tries to process what she had just been called.

"And I expect you all to treat this young boy with respect and kindness!" The woman keeps talking, now focused on the class with a firmness that can be compared to a grandmother scolding her grandchild. "He has quite recently ended his treatment for cancer, so no teasing or anything of that sort!"

"Wuh–?" Her mind isn't fast enough to process the information to open her mouth and put an end to what's about to happen before it happens.

"Now, does anyone feel like volunteering to take this young man under their wings, or do we need to pull the bowl out?"

Silence fills the classroom as no one makes any effort to actually help Katelyn out of this mess. Well, I guess she can't really blame them – after all, they don't even know about the mess. As the woman sighs in frustration, Katelyn is still standing completely still and silent as she's wrecking her brain to come up with a way to fix this as smoothly as possible. But she ends up with nothing, and now the older woman has pulled out a glass bowl and put on her teacher's desk.

"Alright." She says and eyes the entire classroom. "You know the drill. Write your name down on a piece of paper and then put it folded in the bowl."

For the first time of the day, the class sets into action. Papers are being ripped into smaller pieces and names are quickly being written down and soon the bowl is filled with small folded pieces of paper. As the last student puts his name in the bowl the older woman shuffles the papers to mix them together and probably make the end result as random as possible. But instead of drawing a name from the bowl she turns towards Katelyn with a soft smile as she gestures towards the bowl, telling her silently to draw one for herself. Taking a deep breath, Katelyn walks up to the desk where the bowl sits, and carefully lets her hand shuffle through the names some more before grabbing onto one and pulling it out from the bowl. Holding her breath she unfolds the paper and reads out the name written in a beautiful handwriting.

"Eddward."

The air grows inhumanly heavy and she can literally hear the classroom take a deep shocked breath as they all turn their attention towards the boy with the black beanie. He's looking at her again, with the same look in his eyes – like a predator.

"Well then!" The older woman says as she claps her hands together, completely oblivious to the tension that's taken control over the students in her class. "Why don't you go and have a seat next to Eddward?"

"Y-yeah." Katelyn says carefully and walks slowly up to the empty seat next to the boy who seems to be considered a demon or a monster of equal measures.

"And Eddward?" The woman says, looking sternly at the boy who merely meets her glare with complete boredom. "I'll be keeping my eyes on you, to make sure you take care of this boy. Do you understand me?"

A simple shrug is all she gets for an answer, and to Katelyn's utter confusion it seems to be all the woman wanted as she smiles once more before continuing the class till the bell rings. As the entire classroom empties, Katelyn waits at her seat for the woman to give her the books she will need for these lessons. The only other student in the classroom is Eddward, as he for some reason has decided to wait with her. Once she has the book in her hands and she's about to write her name in it, it suddenly hits her even harder what's just happened – not the whole thing to be forced to walk around with this creepy kid – but the fact that everyone now believes that she is a boy – a boy named Kevin.

* * *

**Eddward Marion Vincent, **17 year old, dark raven hair, bright crystal blue eyes, pale olive skin that can be compare to porcelain, black beanie, gap-toothed, captain/champion of the swim team, school's odd/bad boy, genius, speaks English, French and Spanish fluently, lives with his rich single prostitute for a mother – and doesn't know who his father is. Always been seen as the odd one in society growing up, Eddward eventually decided that if everyone was just going to see him as an offspring of a slut, then he might as well live the part to the fullest. Though his mother might be the reason why so many marriages have ended, she still makes a good amount of fortune for them to be one of the richest families in the small town. He once heard her boss telling someone that she was one of their best employees, and that she was the one everyone always asked for. He honestly couldn't care less what that man had to say about his mother.

Growing up with a prostituted mother, it isn't a surprise that Eddward never believed in the legend of the stork and how that's where babies comes from. It also never surprised him that society would always pity him in some way, always offer to help him even though he didn't need any help – his mother was always there for him – and then society would treat him like garbage just because of who his mother was. What was surprising to everyone was how he viewed women. With a prostitute for a mother, everyone would just go to the assumption that Eddward would end up in a dark world, the dark side of society, where women are just seen as toys to be played with and then thrown away. What no one saw coming was that he would never ever even look at a woman or girl in that way – never lay a hand on them, never catcalling, never flirt, never harass. No one would've guessed that he would actually be a gentleman to every single woman that he happened to cross paths with – no matter when, where, age or situation. If it so was a little girl that lost her mother in a store or an old lady that had trouble crossing the street, he would always make sure to treat them with great respect – even saving them from perverts if he caught the action. However, something that again catched everyone off guard was the way he viewed the men of society.

Growing up with a prostituted mother, he learned very early how cruel men can be towards women – for no reason. When he was only six years old a man had hit his mother so badly that he had gone between them and roared at the man with all his might to get away from his mother. The man, caught off guard by the small boy's courage, left the house never to return. Ever since that day, Eddward had made a promise to always protect his mother and every woman possible, from men like that. That's also when he started training everyday to get stronger for that one promise alone. He could care less that some people found it odd or disgusting that a child would train like that; he needed to be stronger for his mother's safety, for the safety of the female society. He could care less that over the years, the older and stronger he got, the more attractive he became for the said gender that he tried to protect. Never asking anyone out, always turning them down gently, he does what he can to be there for them when they really need him. However, teenage girls can be quite irritating… to say the least. That's why he decided to be a bit of an outsider when he reached high school – hopefully that would make most of them back off. It worked so-so at the start, but when he managed to send four jocks to the hospital, all with broken bones, for harassing some shy girls, they all began to fear him, boys as girls. He didn't mind.

Slowly but surely, he began to become known as a local freak/odd boy that was best to be left alone. It suited him just fine, as long as he was able to help his mother by keeping her and women overall safe. When it comes to school however, he rarely sees the reason for him to be there, as he already knows more than the teachers there. He only comes when he absolutely needs to – when there's a test that will affect their grades or something like that, or when his mother has a client over. As for today, he's just bored.

Looking out his bedroom window, he's watching the new family across the street as they appear to be in a hurry. The mother of the family is rushing out the house with their teenage child on her tail to the car that's parked in their drive-in. Leaning backwards to look at the clock on the wall, it is not that late, however if you're heading towards school then most of the first lesson has already passed. Given the way they're stressing, he makes the assumption that they are heading to school, and that they know they are late. The mother drives the car out from the cul-de-sac – almost before their teenage child has managed to even get in the car – and soon they're out of his vision. Killing a sigh, he walks away from the window and grabs his bag from his bed. He's been watching the family almost daily now, ever since they moved in a few weeks ago. In all this time, he's hardly seen anything of the teenager of the family, and he's constantly being interrogated by his mother why he hasn't gone over to welcome them to the neighborhood and introduce himself, and maybe even make a friend for once. Don't get him wrong, he's been thinking about it – but it just feels odd to, especially when you can't even tell if the kid is a boy or a girl. Sure, it could be answered by the very simple question "what's your name?" but that's not good enough for him, for some reason. After all, girls can have boys' names and vice versa. How is he to know what they've decided to name their child? And what if the name turns out to be gender-neutral? That's almost worse than being named something that's meant for the other gender, as at least then you can point that out.

One final glance at the clock, he decides to go to school. His mother isn't working at home today, but he is bored, and he knows that there's going to be a new kid at school today – probably the kid across the street – so there's going to be some sort of interesting event today. Though the chances of him meeting the kid are low, he can always feast on the fact that there's something actually interesting happening at school. Plus, he might luck out and see them in the hallways at lunch break or something.

He locks the door after him, sends a quick text to his mother that the house is empty in case she wants to leave the "office" and come home during her breaks. Then he gets into the car that one of the latest clients bought him, after trying to buy Eddward's approval of having him over almost every single day. To say that man had issues is an understatement. He was arrested not too long ago after attempting to break into some woman's home because he found her pretty and therefore deemed her to be his. In all honesty, Eddward's just happy the man moved on to a different victim. It took some time, but the man soon enough realized what his mother was and became disgusted by her, but he still left the car, so, win-win.

Arriving at school is about as fun as arriving at the dentist; Boring and painful. He parks the car and slowly heads inside. The hallways are empty, part from some skippers here and there, and a handful of monitors. They never bother him though – like everyone else, they don't really know what to think about him, if they should fear him or not, so they just all look at him and sometimes gives him a nod, letting him know that they've seen him. He just looks at them, sometimes nods back, but overall, he just doesn't care. School is one thing he used to enjoy, but the older he got, the more he learned, the more he began to hate it. He likes learning, that much is true, but he doesn't like being surrounded by ignorant idiots that doesn't even know what 1+1 is.

Killing a sigh as he arrives at his classroom, he opens the door the same way he always does – forcefully. The door swings open and smashes into the wall with a loud bang, sending the entire classroom into silent fear and confusion. But that's not something he cares about right now. Right now, he cares about the teenager that's standing in front of him, staring at him with the biggest, greenest eyes he's ever seen.

Just as the door swings open, it reveals the kid from across the street; standing right next to the oldest teacher in the building… what was her name…? Oh right – Mrs. Thompson. Caught completely off guard, Eddward freezes, focusing his eyes on the green ones that stares right back at him. What are the odds for this to happen? His mother always wanted him to make friends with them, and he's always wanted to figure out just what gender they are (he really is curious about it. He's never before seen a person that is so gender-neutral before, and it's slowly killing him). Maybe this will be his chance? After all, a new student needs to be introduced, which means telling about their back-story and also their name.

"Eddward." Mrs. Thompson says with the same tone she always gives him, dragging his attention to her. "We didn't think you would show up today. Please, have a seat. We have a new student in class today."

Looking back at the kid one more time, Eddward then heads over to the one desk that everyone avoids – his desk. It's not like it has his name on it, it's just that ever since he claimed it on the first day, everyone has steered clear of that one seat, and the one next to it. Again, he doesn't mind at all. Dropping his bag at the floor he sits down with a slight thud and leans back in the chair. He can feel everyone's eyes on him, they all know that he rarely shows up for school, and that one of the few reasons why he does is to let his mother have the house for herself and her possible client. He can feel their disgusting accusations as they stare at him, but he doesn't let himself be bothered by them – he's more interested in the kid standing in front of the class, the kid that's still looking at him with those green eyes. He's not sure why, but he feels… soothed by them. As Mrs. Thompson begins introducing the kid Eddward finds himself partially whishing and hoping for the kid to be a girl. Not that he would have anything against them being a guy; it's just that he's not gay or bi. True that he's never dated before, but he still feels confident about him being straight – or asexual. One of the two.

"Well, even though you are a bit late to follow the rest of the class, we really do hope you're going to feel welcome here, Kevin."

"Wh–?" The kid suddenly snaps their head towards Mrs. Thompson, eyes big as saucers, which catches Eddward's attention to say the least.

"And I expect you all to treat this young boy with respect and kindness!" Mrs. Thompson says as she glares at the class, as if she believes it will make them listen to her more. "He has quite recently ended his treatment for cancer, so no teasing or anything of that sort!"

"Wuh–?" The kid… _Kevin_, seems to be a little confused by what's happening. Did he not want them to know about him being a cancer fighter? Eddward doesn't know. All he really catched from this is the gender and name of the kid. Boy – Kevin.

"Now, does anyone feel like volunteering to take this young man under their wings, or do we need to pull the bowl out?"

Eddward carefully eyes the classroom from the edge of his eyes, observing the way everyone is desperately doing their best to not do anything that might be seen as an act of volunteering for the sake of the new student. Sometimes Eddward wonders how any of them managed to get friends, but then he remembers what kind of friends they all have, and then he's not so surprised anymore. Still. Looking back towards Kevin, Eddward thinks slightly about raising his hand and volunteering for the kid, partially to get to know the kid, but also because he'd like to see the entire classroom freak out. However, before he's able to make a decision, Mrs. Thompson sighs and pulls her famous glass bowl out from hiding and puts it proudly on the desk.

"Alright." She says and eyes the entire classroom. "You know the drill. Write your name down on a piece of paper and then put it folded in the bowl."

Soft sounds of movement fills the classroom as everyone begins tearing paper and writing their names down. Eddward follows suit, writing his name carefully down with the beautiful handwriting his mother taught him all those years ago. That is also something nobody expected from him – to actually learn how to read and write, let alone write so beautifully. It actually makes him want to gag. He doesn't though. He has learned how to mask his distaste in other humans – until they cross the line that is. Once he's done he stands up and walks over to place his folded piece of paper into the bowl before sitting down once more. The final student puts their name into the bowl and Mrs. Thompson shuffles them around for a bit before turning towards Kevin with one of the softest smiles Eddward has ever seen on her old face. He actually didn't know she was capable of smiling at all, but then again, she never seems happy to have him around, so I guess that's the reason why he's never seen her smile – she never does to him.

Very hesitatingly, Kevin approaches the bowl as if it was an alien or something equally scary and unknown, and reaches out to shuffle the names a little bit more before grabbing one and pulling it out. He doesn't have to read the name out loud, Eddward already knows that it's his name on that paper – he knows people might find it weird, but he's very picky when it comes to pens and paper, meaning he spends a lot of time to seek out the best kinds he can find. That being said – he can see from where he's sitting that the piece of paper in the boy's hand is coming from his notebook. However, for the sake of the tension in the classroom, for the sake of seeing everyone's reaction, he remains silent, waiting for Kevin to read out the name on the paper, written in the infamous handwriting.

"Eddward." His voice is soft, weak and light – almost a little feminine. For whatever reason, it makes Eddward want to protect the boy.

As the air grows heavier and heavier the more the class understand what the boy just said, Eddward can't help but feel a little bit of enjoyment in their reaction. It's like the entire classroom has decided to take a deep breath and hold it in at the one and same time, as if they were all telepathically connected. Eddward fights the smirk that threatens to form and focuses his gaze on the boy that seems to be petrified of what has just occurred.

"Well then!" Mrs. Thompson says as she claps her hands together, completely oblivious to the tension that's controlling her classroom. "Why don't you go and have a seat next to Eddward?"

"Y-yeah." Kevin says; his voice still small and light.

"And Eddward?" Mrs. Thompson says as she glares the best she can at Eddward, to which he returns with his most bored glance. "I'll be keeping my eyes on you, to make sure you take care of this boy. Do you understand me?"

He just shrugs, knowing that's all he needs to do for her to leave him alone. The boy sits down so carefully next to him he can't help but feel moved – for whatever reason. Mrs. Thompson then continues on with what's left for the lesson, and soon enough the bell rings and everyone hurries out from the classroom. Well, everyone except Kevin and Eddward. Kevin is waiting for Mrs. Thompson to give him the books he will need for these classes and Eddward sees no reason in running away from the kid he's been meaning to befriend, so he remains seated. Once Mrs. Thompson hands Kevin the books he sets out to write his name in them, but then hesitates. This, again, catches Eddward's attention and he carefully watches as the boy seem to fight with himself for a moment before writing his name down. Watching him write, Eddward can clearly see that the other boy's handwriting is not nearly as neat as his, but it's also far from the worst one he's ever seen. Once everything is in order, they get up from their seats and put their books into their bags and heads out from the classroom to continue the most awkward day in both of their lives – without even knowing it.

* * *

I would like to thank you all, who are reading this, for reading this. I wrote this entire chapter in one sit, no breaks or anything like that, so there might be a few mistakes here and there. Hopefully not, but I'm only human so I can't promise anything. This is the first time I'm writing a "romantic" story, so I would really appreciate some feedback and just some thoughts of what you think about this so far. It is also the first time I'm writing an ed edd n eddy fanfic, so please give me some feedback about that as well, I mean, if you want to. As you may have noticed, this is a rev!fem!kevxrev!edd, which is a small experiment I wanted to try out – as I haven't seen any version of the kevedd stories where revKevin is the female – so, I just wanted to give it a shot.

Also! Side rant! In this story, I have based Eddward's character of a character from a novel of which I don't remember the name of, nor do I remember the name of the said character – only that I was fascinated by him, and that he might be the first fiction character I ever had a crush on – and I'm sort of writing this story in the hopes of remember the name of the novel and/or the name of the character, because I – for some reason – began thinking about it the other day, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. So, if you may have any clue as to what tale it might be, please tell me and I will check it out and see if it is the one I'm looking for. Sort of an odd reason to write a story, but I just can't get that one character out of my head!

If you want to know, the character is a ginger boy (age 13-15 I think), with an interesting sense of fashion. He dresses in long dark coats and has a hat on, that's somewhat familiar to a pirate hat, but more… normal? His mother is a prostitute, and he doesn't know who his father is. He is known to be the troublemaker of the neighborhood and he is friend with a very calm, friendly boy at the same age (I actually think that the friend might be the main character of the novel) who he from time to time drags into his schemes and sometimes ends up getting them both into trouble – naturally.

And that's all I really remember of the novel. It's not much, I know, but the memory of it is too strong for me to ignore – I have searched all over the internet (not really) and still haven't found anything. So, here I am, lol.

Anyway – thank you for reading this first chapter of this story – I will try to write some more soon – can't make any promises when the next chapter will be though – again, I'm just a human.

Thank you and have a good day!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_One, two glares_

**Katelyn P.O.V.**

Waking up this morning, she did not see this one coming. If she had, she wouldn't have left the bed. Ever. At all. But, she didn't, and thus, here she is; Trapped. Surrounded by guys… _**stripping**_… She's taking the time to thank whatever god that might be out there for the fact that this school has invested in installing one sauna per locker room, giving her something to blame her flaming cheeks on. She could've tried to pry her way out of there if she had the guts to do so, to stand up and talk to a bunch of guys how she's actually a girl and doesn't belong in here, but something in the back of her mind told her that that might not be the most brilliant idea. However, she did try to pry her way out of this situation before it happened, but she was unfortunately shot down after she learned that the only way to get to the school's swimming pool is through the locker rooms… and apparently the "coach" has a thing about not liking students come in one at the time, and that he almost forces his students to come out everyone at once – why, you may ask – (well, me don't know. I just had a teacher like that growing up, so I stole the idea from there. He was a strange man. And old. I think he might be dead by now.)

Students from the swim practice/lesson before them are still roaming the locker rooms, claiming both showers and the sauna – spreading even more heat through the locker room, causing even more heat on her cheeks. Thank goodness they all believed her though when she told her that it's something that happens whenever there are sudden temperature changes and that there's nothing that can be done about it. It would've been far to awkward if they all knew about the girl that tried her best to not see anything that she might need bleach for in order to clean her eyes and mind. She did luck out for a brief moment when she saw that one of the two toilets were free, so she claimed it for as long as she could, until a fist banged on the door and a loud voice asked how much longer she was going to shit. That's about when she decided to retreat to one of the corners as far away from the crowd as possible. Once they're all finally finished, she follows them out to the pool, keeping her eyes at shoulder height.

The pool is much larger than she had first assumed, and the chlorine scent struck her in the face – or rather punched her in the face – much harder than she was prepared for, even causing her to get a little dizzy. Once again, she took the time to thank the possible god for the fact that this was her first day, meaning she didn't have anything to change into in order to participate in the swimming. She was well aware of the fact that they might have some spare stuff for her to change into, but she hoped that if she played the "_I don't know how to swim_" card, she would still be fine, and maybe sometime in the future, she would be able to get a full body swimsuit of some kind.

"Why are you not changed?!" A harsh voice echoes through the room, causing some to cover their ears.

Feeling a burning in her skin, Katelyn carefully turns around to face the person the voice belongs to. From what she can see, she assumes that this is the coach (if the whistle wasn't a hint enough). He's shorter than she thought he would be, but bigger in a way she didn't know was possible, and covered in tattoos. For whatever reason, he reminds her of an angry pit-bull… or a Rottweiler. _How in the world did he get a job at a school?!_ He continues to glare at her as he waits for her poor excuse for why she is the only one who isn't dressed for swimming, or any exercise for that matter.

"U-uhm…" She croaks out nervously as she tries to force her voice to sound more masculine. "It-it's my first day."

The coach simply stares at her with a raised eyebrow, as if he needs a moment to process what she just said. Shifting on her steps, she stands there as she nervously waits for a response. A sigh is all she gets. She watches as the coach lifts up a clipboard he apparently was carrying around, and he flips through one or two papers on it while muttering something to no one. Feeling somewhat out of place she carefully begins looking at the other students in hope of finding… something. Some kind of hint whether this behavior of the man is normal or not, and what she's to do about it.

"Very well." The man eventually says, claiming her attention once more. "Just go sit by the bleachers for now. But you better have changed for the next lesson."

Giving the man a small nod and smile – while mentally falling to her knees to praise the god that's decided to help her through this day – she turns towards the bleachers to have a seat. Some of the male students glare at her as she sits down, while some of the female students simply look at her a bit shyly. Something tells her that, as much as this is going to be awkward and weird, this is also going to give her some insight on what's going on in the male part of the school world. However, whether she's supposed to be excited about this or not… she hasn't really decided yet. _I mean, I was kind of forced into this situation…_

The man – the coach – has started checking the name list to see who's not there and whatnot. Calling out the names and checking when the students answer, the man reminds her of a military soldier in some way. Once he's done with the name list, he blows the whistle to get their attention and then begins instructing them of what's to do today. Lifesaving. _Thank god for me missing out of this one_. That's all she can think about this one – the last time she was in school and they had to do this kind of lesson, things didn't go to well… instead of _learning_ about lifesaving and CPR, they had to _observe it being performed_. Yeah… not a good day… she's still getting chills from thinking about it.

"And you!" The coach suddenly calls out, turning towards her while pointing at her. "Don't think you're getting away with this one. The next lesson you're going to have to do what we're doing today, so you'd better pay attention and not sit off."

_Feck! _

"Y-yes sir." She answers while scratching the back of her neck.

The coach looks at her a little bewildered, as if he'd been caught off guard or something, but then he just turns towards the rest of the students to blow his whistle at them. They all jump into the pool to begin the practice and Katelyn makes sure to observe and pay attention as much as she can with the headache the chlorine is giving her. If only she'd have taken her notebook with her so that she could take notes instead of having to remember everything. _Oh well…_ maybe she can ask Eddward after? In all honesty, he's not been behaving the way she thought he would be giving how everyone's been staring at him all day. He's much more quiet and… just not that weird, I guess. I mean, he's still freaking terrifying and she has no idea where he's at mentally, but she doesn't feel… in danger? _Not yet at least._ It's fairly hard to see what's going on in the water with how everyone is splashing at each other and just splashing for the sake of it, but she's still able to locate him in all the chaos. You might say he's the only one who's not participating in the chaos. So far it's really hard to understand why everyone seems to fear him.

The coach blows his whistle harshly and yells at them to stop playing around and to actually pay attention. Some of them stop completely, but most of them keep going, just a little calmer than before. She watches as the coach simply shakes his head before walking away somewhere. As soon as he's gone, chaos is back in action, only to be stopped once more by his whistle. He's carrying some sort of orange humanoid looking plastic doll, or rather torso, and blow his whistle once more when he's standing in front of the pool. The students eventually starts paying attention to him as he starts talking to them about what to do when you're saving a drowning person. _Not that I'm planning to ever end up in that situation… actually, I highly doubt any of us are._ He tosses the doll/torso into the water and everyone just watches as it begins to sink to the bottom of the pool. Bubbles escape through every little opening of the doll as it keeps sinking, and once it's finally reached its destination, the bubbles stop. Everyone stares once more at the coach as he keeps talking about how and what you're meant to do to reach a person that's sunken to the bottom, just like the doll has. Katelyn does everything she can to pay attention, but her head is starting to spin too much for her to actually be able to keep her eyes straight.

Leaning into her hands with her elbows resting on her thighs, she groans slightly as she closes her eyes, wishing the headache away with all her might and with very little success. Taking even and large breaths, she focuses her attention to counting her breathing and to the sound of the students moving around in the water of the pool. So far, no one seems to have noticed her suffering. Not that she's complaining. _Not at all_. She doesn't like when people care for her, as funny as that might sound. Breathing in through her nose, and out through her mouth, she tries to remember the breathing exercise one of the nurses once taught her to handle some of the pain the chemo could cause. She focuses on the exercise so much she doesn't hear the footsteps that are approaching her.

"Are you alright son?" The coach's voice is sudden, harsh and so unexpected that she jumps from it. "You don't look to good."

"Ah…" She looks up at him with irritated eyes from the chlorine. "I-eh… I think it's just the chlorine… giving me a headache and… making me a little dizzy, is all."

"Hmm…" The coach looks her over, taking in the red in her eyes from the chlorine fuses, and the slight tremble in her hands that proves the pain of the headache. "How about you go outside for a moment? Get some fresh air."

_That sounds absolutely delightful…! _Nodding her head, she carefully checks that her cap is on right before she stands up and follows the man to a door that leads outside. She ignores all of the glares that burn in her skin as she walks by the pool, only focusing on dealing with her bad head.

Pure, sweet, oxygen. Never before has it been more welcomed in her life. Taking big deep breaths, she stretches her back and relish in the feeling of the headache fading away. The coach has returned in to keep an eye on the rest of the students, leaving her alone with her thoughts while her head is getting cleared out. She takes off her glasses to rub her eyes a little and puts the glasses in her pocket. Once her headache is completely gone, she opens the door again and heads back in, but instead of going back to sit at the bleachers, she remains standing next to the door, so that she can leave more easily if she would need to.

The students in the pool seem to have calmed down finally, and actually seem to be trying to do what the coach is telling them to. Seems they just needed to cool down a bit. She watches for a moment before noticing that there's someone approaching her. Her eyes grow a little as she realizes its Eddward and not the coach. His steps seem to be careful, and his expression – once he's close enough for her to see it – appear to be a mix of bored, curious and just… _meh_ – that's all she can describe it as.

"Are you unwell?" He asks and for some reason, Katelyn is caught off guard by that. Not from what he said, but that he said anything at all.

"Well…" She starts, clearing her throat before continuing. "The chlorine is giving me a headache, and making me a little dizzy, I guess."

He remains silent after that, simply joining her at the wall, standing and staring at the students messing around in the pool. She's not really sure what to make out of this, out of him. Remembering her glasses are in her pocket, she reaches down to pick them up and putting them on again. Her sight improves immediately, although the glasses are a little dirty from being in a pocket, and she feels a little better off now that she can see more clearly.

The lesson is over no second to soon, and she finds herself in the locker room once more. This time however, she's free to leave as soon as she enters, _or rather flee_, and escape the awkwardness of being surrounded by naked guys in showers. She is however forced to stand outside and wait for her "comrade" to finish up and come out to show her where the next lesson is. From what she can tell, she's meant to follow Eddward around throughout her first week, while the teachers are working on her schedule, and then she's pretty much on her own.

She's not entirely sure how this school's system works.

Eddward comes out from the locker room soon enough and they walk in awkward silence to the next lesson. Along the way there, even more students stare at them as if they're not sure they can trust what they're seeing, and it would also seem that the old lady from before is keeping her words, as she suddenly pops up from nowhere and looks at them with something Katelyn can only describe as distrust/disgust. This keeps on happening throughout the whole school day, and Katelyn still hasn't a single clue as to why this dude is treated this way. He hasn't done anything at all – talking included, if you don't count the small question in the natatorium. Well, maybe that's something that he's doing that is a little odd. However, so far that's all.

Their next lesson is biology, a class they're sharing with a bunch of different students. One of them is a very energetic boy with teal hair and earrings. He's wearing a blue shirt and lime pants that her eyes really don't enjoy looking at – they're stinging from the odd coloring this dude has decided to combine – and he doesn't seem to give a carpet about the teacher that keeps telling him to calm down. In all honesty, he's being way weirder than Eddward has been the whole day – and that's just from one lesson!

His yellow eyes suddenly land on her and a big smile spreads on his face. She can literally _feel_ Eddward shrinking back to the background the closer the dude gets as he marches towards them with big and proud steps, as if he's desperately trying to avoid him. Leaning on the table they're sitting at, he claims the surrounding as if he's the king of the world, and everyone lets him.

"Hello there _cutieputie~_" He says with a singing ring to his voice. "I don't think I've seen you're pretty face around here before. What's a _sexy beast_ such as you doing in a place like this?"

Choking on her own breath, she suddenly understands _completely_ why Eddward is so desperate to avoid this guy. This dude… _I mean __**really!**_ Cheeks heating up from the mere presence of this guy, Katelyn literally has to force herself meeting his eyes. He must've noticed her discomfort and the redness on her cheeks, cuz' his smile just turned into the largest smirk she's ever seen.

"No need to answer that, _sweetheart_." He winks at her. "I'm Nathan Kedd Goldberg, but everyone just calls me Nat. What's your name, _handsome?_" On the way of answering his question, Nathan raises his hands and stops her with the smirk still intact. "No wait! Let me guess! Hmmmm… let's see… fiery, foxy hair, big green eyes, adorable freckles and the _smoothest_ lips I've ever seen in my life." Nearly biting off said lips, Katelyn grabs her cap to shield her face with it, only to have it being grabbed by Nathan and forced up again just so that he can show her his smirk as he leans in closer. "I'm gonna say…_Nicolai_… No wait! _Eduardo_… No! _Handsomino!_"

Snorting at his ridiculousness, she can't stop the giggle that escapes her as he keeps on rambling weird versions of the words "handsome" and "sexy". This however doesn't seem to be helping the situation, as the dude only seems to be enjoying her reaction and keeps on going just for the sake of that.

"Okay, I give up." He eventually – _I mean finally_ – says as he admits defeat. "I've listed every name I can think of that a sexy beast such as you should have and I am just _dying_ to know! What's your name, oh_ magical creature? _Please, tell me now before I _die_ from this lack of knowing how to praise the _sexy god_ that you are!"

His weirdness just keeps making her chuckle; however his question is burning in her mind. How is she to answer? True that this dude has only referred to male "names", which means this would be less awkward for the moment if she just went with it and said Kevin, what the lady had called her before. However, that would just lead to a way more awkward situation in the future if they were to figure out that she's been lying to them this whole time. If only she was the one who answered the question.

"_Kevin._" A dark voice emits from Eddward, who's still hiding in the background – or, was until he decided to speak up for the second time of the day. "His name is Kevin, and if you are not aware of the obvious, _Nathan_, you're mere presence is making him awkward and it would be for the best if you were to leave now."

Eyes are at the size of saucers. She can't believe what he just said – one; for the reason that he answered the question for her, and in doing that, sealed her fate – and two; he just went dark… not dark as in his skin suddenly changed color, no – no, dark as in the way that she might've finally seen some of the "monster" or "demon" that he might've been hiding from her this whole time.

His eyes are still the bright blue color, but they're dark in a way that causes her spine to tickle – in a very bad way. He's not staring at her though – _thank god_ – he's staring at the guy, Nathan, with a stare that could kill someone if he had the power to do so with one. Also – side rant – he just called him Nathan, not Nat, which is something the guy said that everyone called him. _Guess that means Eddward doesn't like the way this guy is – like, seriously._ The guy however, despite the obvious darkness that Eddward is emitting, seems to be completely unfazed by this, as his grin doesn't just remain, but also grows from the added attention he gets.

"_D'aww!_" Nathan's voice suddenly reaches for the higher tones. "You _DO_ love me!"

Feeling the tension grow in the classroom, Katelyn slightly sits back in her chair as she waits and fears for the moment where fists are going to fly. But it never comes. Looking at Eddward, she manages to catch him rolling his eyes as he returns to hiding in the background, while Nathan still seems to be completely oblivious to the other guy's distaste in him.

The teacher eventually calls Nathan's name and he leaves them – reluctantly – alone, but not before turning around in order to wink at her and smirk massively at her flushing cheeks. She slightly rubs them for a moment before looking forward in order to pay attention to the teacher, who seems to be desperately trying his best not to murder Nathan. Killing a chuckle for the boy's silliness, Katelyn slightly shakes her head and starts taking notes as she follows the lesson of the chapter they're in. Fungus. _How interesting. _The bell rings not a second too soon and she begins packing her new books in her bag as students rise from their seats to leave to lunch. Casting one careful glance towards Eddward, she makes the assumption that he's just as ready for lunch as she is.

Noticing once again all of the eyes that lands on them as they walk side to side along the hallways, Katelyn chances to glance towards Eddward, just to see if he's noticing everyone's glares as well. His facial expression is pretty much the same as it's always been – complete bored to death. Staring straight ahead, and not batting an eye towards anyone who's looking at them, she can only assume that he's either oblivious to their glares, or that he's completely ignoring them. Something tells her that it's the latter, and thus, she tries to do the same.

They walk in silence as they've always done – so far. She purposely falls just slightly behind, from time to time, to sort of silently allowing him to show the way without having to say anything, and to kind of avoid the risk of accidentally bump into one another just in case they need to turn a corner and she's standing in the way for him. She's just being really careful, alright? It's somewhat scary and unnerving to be walking next to this fellow.

She falls slightly behind once again as they reach a crossing between the hallways as – though the sound of loud voices might be a good hint as to where they're going – she lets Eddward show the way to the lunchroom. He turns the corner in the direction towards the loud voices, which isn't really surprising, and she walks up to him again, trying to regain her position of walking next to him. She's too busy focusing on getting her footing right that she doesn't notice him slowing down as they approach the line – she doesn't bump into him hard, but she's still so caught off guard by it that she lets a slight noise of distress out. A few heads turn towards them and watches as she quickly raises her head to look at him.

"S-sorry!" She blurts out, momentarily forgetting to disguise her voice. He only looks at her with the same bored expression before shrugging slightly and turning forward again to pay attention to the line's movement.

"Not to worry." He says, and a few more heads turn their way, as if his voice is something you only get to hear once a lifetime. "Accidents happen, and besides, no one was harmed."

It takes a moment for her to answer him, a while for her to pull her attention away from the heads that keep turning towards them to see what's going on. "Right." She keeps her voice low, not wanting to be heard by anyone for some reason. The way everyone stares at the two of them is making her feel very uneasy. She wants to ask him about it, but it doesn't feel like the right time to do so, right not at least.

The line moves on and soon enough they've paid for their food – or rather, _Eddward_ paid for their food – and now they're sitting down on a table that seems to be not meant for the popular kids of the school. Not that she minds – she doesn't like "popular kids". They're always so annoying. So, I guess that's one good thing about walking around with this dude – no one seems to be interested in messing with him (with one exception, of course) or anyone who's with him. For that, she's grateful.

They eat their food in somewhat silence, being forced to listen to some of the other student's random conversations and watching some High School drama a little here and there – nothing major. Being almost finished with her meal, Katelyn decides to just look around the lunchroom for a moment, without leaving her seat of course. The most popular kids appear to be sitting at the front of the lunchroom, right by the entrance where there seems to be some sort of "extra space", almost as if there used to be a small room there that was removed, where as the different ranks of the school's popularity goes downwards from there. That being said, that means they are sitting where the… "_Banished_" students would be sitting, seeing as even the nerd squads appear to be sitting closer to the front than them. Eh, that just means extra space to them. Moving her attention forward to her plate again, she catches Eddward looking at her slightly, as if he's observing her behavior or something. Temporarily forgetting that she might be in the need to fear this young man, she bravely/obliviously meets his eyes and gives him a small and polite smile.

"Yes?" She asks, letting her elbows rest on the table as she leans on them. "Did you… want to say something?"

He remains silent for a moment, simply observing her. It is at this moment where she suddenly remembers that she might be supposed to be afraid of this boy, but she tries her best to ignore that fact for the moment, forcing her smile to remain. She waits patiently for him to say something, but as he doesn't answer her question she draws her elbows back as she sits up more straight in her seat.

"I-" She starts, but loses her train of thoughts before she thinks of something else. "Oh, yeah! I forgot to thank you for paying for my food. You didn't have to, you know?" That seems to catch his attention, so she keeps going. "I can pay you back. How much was it again?"

"You haven't asked."

She looks at him, eyes slightly bigger and filled with confusion. Asked what? What the price for the food was? But… she just did, right? Furrowing her brows a little, she tries to understand what he's talking about, but as she comes up with nothing else she decides to ask him.

"Asked… what? How much the food costs? Didn't I just-"

"Not the food." He cuts her off without being rude – somehow.

"Oh…" Is all her brilliant mind can think of. "But… then what…?"

"Why they stare."

She can suddenly feel the mood change – going from simply being bored out of his mind, he's now… upset… but also curious and, maybe even a little… hopeful? He looks at her, waiting for her answer obviously, but she doesn't quite know how to answer him. I mean, yes, she is curious about why they're all staring at him the way they are, but also, she doesn't feel like she's in the position of knowing it just yet… even if he's meant to help her throughout her first week of school.

"Um…" She starts – wonderful start. "I mean… I am a little curious about it but…" Not knowing what else to really say she simply shrugs, hoping that it will be enough of an answer to him, but somehow feeling like it really isn't.

He keeps his eyes on her, not changing the expression of his face… maybe a little. He seems to be a little more relaxed – for some reason – but still a little on edge which is what makes her even more curious about what the reason could be. What – did he murder someone? He didn't, right. Right? Or did he kidnap someone? Is he a criminal? A drug dealer? Or-

"So you don't know?" His voice once again cutting her off – only this time he's not aware of it. He looks at her, waiting for some kind of response from her to let him keep going. Not knowing how to talk right now, she simply shakes her head, letting her answer be clear without using a word. "Well then." He says with a slight sigh and – thank god he's not looking at her anymore, he's looking down at the table. "I suppose there's no use in trying to beat around the bush, or to try and make the truth prettier than it is."

She watches as he leans back in his seat, almost in a relaxing and careless way. He lets out one more sigh, before looking back at her for a moment, almost as if he's trying to prepare himself for what he's about to say, but then he looks back at the table, as if hoping to find a way out for the sinkhole he made for himself. She slightly furrows her brows as she waits patiently for him to start talking once more. However, what he says is not what she would've been expecting.

"My mother is a prostitute." He says as he slowly looks back up at her again, probably waiting for a reaction of some kind. When none is coming, he clears his throat and keeps talking. "Yes… she's probably one of the… best ones on the market." He makes a face of distaste for what he's just said. "And from what I can tell, she's also seen as the greatest reason why most marriages in this town have fallen apart, which is probably explanation enough for why most of our schoolmates tend to stare." She remains silent as she can almost sense that he's far from finished. "I also don't know who my father is, due to my mother's many different clients that never return or get arrested. This is also apparently one of the great reasons why the state of this little town is up my tail about my life situation. Naturally they're just looking for a reason to have me taken away to wherever."

He stops talking for a moment, looking behind her as if he spots something happening or someone that might be paying attention for the wrong reason. She's not sure – when she turns around to try and see what he's looking at she ends up not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

"I'm not about to let that happen though." He says, drawing her attention back to him again. "As bad as it all might seem, my mother is a very good woman. She cares about me; otherwise she wouldn't have kept me in the first place, especially not with the economical situation she was in at the time. She's very strong, as well, as her own family was not… a good one. An abusive father and an alcoholic mother who never lifted a finger for anything, she's been through a lot ever since her childhood. Not to mention that the only job she was '_deemed worthy for_' is the one and same job she has right now."

"God…" Katelyn can't help but exhale a soft sigh as she lets out the only word she can think of. Thankfully, Eddward doesn't seem to have minded.

"As you might be able to tell from this, I am the only one she has, the only thing she lives for. And she is the same to me." Letting out a deep sigh, Eddward makes eye contact with her once more, but this time more seriously. "I have seen men mistreat my mother to the point where I forced them out of our home; I have seen men mistreat other women to the point where I wished them to death. My point is; I do not care for men who only see women as one thing and one thing only – _toys_. _Sex slaves_. I will not tolerate such sadistic behavior to be happening anywhere around me. This is the reason why most of the _male_ students glare at me, for I have on many accounts made myself clear on this matter. If I see an act of sexual harassment, I. Will. Stop it. By any means necessary."

Realization dawns on her, as she now begins to understand the boy in front of her, and the reason as to why everyone is staring at him, and probably why most teachers seem to be keeping their eyes on him. If he's ready to eliminate sexual harassment by any means necessarily, then that would most logically mean one thing; fights.

"So there you have it." Eddward says, once more pulling her attention to him. "That is the horrid truth of Eddward Marion Vincent – the son of Peach Creek's greatest prostitute."

Lowering her gaze to the half finished meal on her plate, she gather's her thoughts and the courage to let them be known to the boy in front of her, to let him know that he has at least one ally in his life, besides for his mother. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she manages to catch his attention this time as she raises her head to look him straight in his eyes.

"I don't…" She says, but loses the point for the moment. He looks at her, waiting for what she's about to say. "I mean… it… can't be your fault… or your mother's fault that all of those marriages ended. It just can't be!" His eyes grows slightly, but he remains silent, allowing her to keep talking, just as she remained silent to allow him to keep talking. "I mean – your mother, she's just doing her job, right? She can't decide who's going to- to order those kinds of services. She's just doing what she's being told to do, what she has to do in order to get paid so that she can pay her bills and take care of, well, you. She's just doing her job, like everyone else. And, I mean, even if she wasn't working in that… erm… _field_, that wouldn't really affect the quality of those marriages. A cheater is a cheater. If anything, I find it weird that everyone is blaming you and your mother for breaking those marriages when clearly it is up to the couple what's to happen with their marriage. They should be putting the blame on those who are really guilty – the people that decided to be unfaithful to their spouse and family." She takes a small break, collecting the rest of her thoughts about the matter, about what he just told her – the very personal information he decided to share with her. "And… when it comes to you protecting people from sexual harassment… girls mainly, and the fact that it has resulted in most of the male students to look down on you… like, doesn't that in itself tell you what kind of people _they_ are? If they don't like you for protecting girls from being sexually harassed by them, then doesn't that mean they are… _for_ sexual harassment? Doesn't that mean they are the kinds of perverts that everyone hates? That might be arrested for said harassments sometime in the future?"

There's a long moment of silence between them. He's looking at her with eyes of wonder while she's staring down at the plate of cold leftovers from her meal. She's not really that hungry anymore, so she doesn't really feel sad over the loss of food – well, she is a little upset that she allowed half a meal get spoiled for the sake of a conversation when there are children in Africa that are starving… but, to be fair; she didn't really expect to be having this kind of conversation with a boy she's barely acquainted with. _Such a heavy topic to be talking about…_

"I-I just…" She stops herself as she feels like her emotions are beginning to take over. Taking a deep breath she tries to calm herself before continuing. "It's not right, is what I'm trying to say about that. It… it's just… it's not right."

He looks at her, the expression on his face softer than she's ever seen – true that it's still the first day they've known about each others' existence – as he takes in every word she's speaking. A small smile forms on his lips, but for some reason she can't help but feel like it might actually be some kind of smirk. _Did he lie to me…? Nah… why would someone lie about something like this?_

He interrupts her train of thoughts again, this time with a low chuckle. "_Oh, mon petit citrouille_…" His eyes grow warmer and his voice slightly lower as his smile remains where it is. "Something tells me that we are going to be quite the comrades, you and I."

Meeting his eyes, she can't help but let a small smile of her own show. Even though this day hasn't gone as planned, she's still managed to make a friend – or comrade. They finish their lunch in somewhat silence, talking a little about whatever comes to mind, getting to know each other bit by bit. Lunch eventually ends, and the next lesson it seems they're not in the same class. Eddward has advanced calculus whereas Katelyn has programming, however he still takes the time to show her where her lesson is before he walks off to his own.

Time flies when you're having fun, and that's never been any truer than right now. There aren't many students in this class, but Katelyn couldn't care any less about that. Programming isn't a lesson that many feels the need to learn, or has the wish to learn, especially not for girls. So it isn't really a surprise for Katelyn that she is the only girl in this class of merely eight students – all geeks. She ends up talking a little to some of them who seem interested in the fact that there's a new face in the small group, but other than that they all stick to themselves, working slowly on whatever it is they're pretending to be working on. Katelyn seems to be the only one who doesn't just seem happy learning about this stuff, but also the only one who's actually doing something during this lesson. Not that anyone notice.

Soon enough the bell rings for the end of the lesson. With about 10 minutes to get to her next and final lesson for the day, Katelyn packs her stuff a little slower than the others as she thinks about if she should go find Eddward – wherever he might be – or if she should just ask her way to her next lesson and see how trustworthy her fellow schoolmates are. Letting out a small sigh, she flings her bag over her shoulder and heads out the door. Maybe she will luck out and find him in the halls somewhere? Or maybe–

"Well, well, well… Look what we have here." A loud, unfamiliar voice cuts through everyone's conversations and/or thoughts, drawing everyone's attention towards its owner. Well, "everyone". There's only Katelyn in the hallway for the moment, so whoever is talking must be talking to her, right? Turning towards the direction the voice came from, she finds herself standing in front of five different big boys – jocks – in… jut to make it easier; they're in different color combinations. "If it isn't the little brand new nerd who thinks it's wise to befriend the enemy of everyone."

She's managed to pinpoint who out of these five jocks is talking to her – not the one in the middle, surprisingly enough – and makes eye contact with him, something that doesn't seem to go unnoticed by him or his friends.

"Tell me little nerd, how big are the odds that someone like you is just going to be used by some freak of nature like that?" The boys keep walking closer and closer to her, all while she tries to understand where they're trying – and failing – to go with this… confrontation of theirs. "Well? Are you gonna answer or not?"

"Erm…" She's not sure what to say to him, so that's all she managed to say. Quite intelligent, if I may say so myself.

"'Erm'? Is that all your huge nerd brain can come up with?" One of the other boys snickers out. "Man, something tells me that this might be a _DUMB_ nerd."

They're all snickering at her after that comment, leaning against the walls or each others as they're beginning to laugh at her. _So this is how it boys get bullied?_ She thinks while remaining silent, letting them finish up their laughing fit. Seeing little to no reason to say something to them, she begins shifting on her legs a little, looking around in the hallway in search for something interesting to focus on. She doesn't manage to drift away into her thoughts as a hand grabs her jaw so forcefully it hurts – a lot.

"Are you listening you little nerd?" The first boy says while forcing her to look at him. "Man, drifting away in thoughts when the football team is talking to you, you really are a little idiot, aren't you?" The snickering starts all over again as he tightens his grip of her jaw, causing her to grimace. "Oh, am I hurting you, little idiot? Do you want me to stop? Well to effin' bad. This is what happens to those who are stupid enough to hang around such an unnatural creature as _Eddward Vincent!_"

"Yes?"

Everyone grows stiff from the sudden voice and they all turn slowly towards the one and only Eddward Vincent. He's standing in the middle of the hallway, not too far away from them, hands in his pockets and the same "bored-to-death" expression on his face as he watches the situation before him. He makes eye contact with Katelyn for about half a second, but that is still enough for her to feel immediately calmer about the whole situation, even if her jaw is still being crushed by this random jock that seems to be just out for a fight.

"May I help you, Emil?" Eddward says after a moment of silence. "I distinctly heard you say my name, so, what is it?"

"I ain't need your help, you freak." The jock – Emil, apparently – says with little emotion in his voice. "We're just teaching this little new meat about the ranks of this school, nothin' for you to be worried about."

"Is that so?" Eddward says lifting his head a little higher without seeming proud. "Well, in that case, I am afraid to tell you that it is something for me to worry about. You see, Mrs. Thompson has assigned me to take care of Kevin his first week of school, and as we all know she is not very fond of me, meaning she is following my every movement considering this boy, and if anything were to happen to him, she would know about it and make sure I suffer for it… and I believe we all know what happened last time someone made me suffer for something they did… _right?_"

They're silent, veeerryy silent, as he talks to them about her – or, well, about Kevin. Emil, who's been holding her jaw for such a long while, is finally reluctantly drawing his hand back from her face, letting go of her jaw and raising said hand up as if to show Eddward that he's retreating and surrendering. Mumbling something she can't comprehend, Emil and the rest of the jock gang turn on their steps and walks away. Following them with her gaze, she fails to notice Eddward walking up to her.

"Are you alright?" He says with a calmer voice, but it's still so sudden to her that she jumps from it and turns around quickly to look at him with big surprised eyes. If he reacted or thought anything about her reaction, he sure managed to hide it from her.

Clearing her throat awkwardly she scratches the back of her neck as she tries to act smoothly. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. How about you?" A half a smirk is all she gets for an answer.

"Alright then." He says, and just then the bell for the beginning of the last class of the day rings, letting everyone that's still out in the hallways know that they're now officially late.

"Gah!" Letting out a struggled sound of surprise, Katelyn feels the slight panic begin to flow through her blood. There's one thing to be late because someone else is basically forcing you to be late with them, and a whole different one to be late because you lost track of time. "W-we have to get to class!" She grabs one of his arms and begins to drag him after her for a while, before stopping mid step as she suddenly remembers that she has no idea where they're going. Feeling slightly embarrassed, she shyly turns towards him only to be met with a well knowing smirk on his face as he looks at her.

"How about you lead?" She asks with a small voice as she awkwardly lets go of his arm.

A breathy chuckle escapes him as he puts his hands in his pockets and starts walking down the hallway in the complete other direction. She follows him just like she's done throughout the day, making sure she's not in the way of him whenever the chance if him turning a corner comes. Luckily, they're sharing the next class so there's no real struggle getting help with the small project they have to do with a partner. And then the final bell rings, letting them all know that school is finally over for today.

With her backpack filled with brand new schoolbooks, Katelyn hopes beyond hope that the weight will not cause the bag to break as she flings it over her shoulder. When she's established that it's not going to break, just going to be very heavy, she begins walking down the halls. Since she and Eddward literally live across the street from one another, they end up walking together – even if they didn't plan on doing so – and receiving even more glances and glares than before. Their walk is quiet as it's always been which is both welcomed but also quite unnerving. Nevertheless, Katelyn is glad that she's managed to make a friend on her first day, and unbeknownst to her, Eddward is also happy to have managed to befriend someone today.

When they reach the street where they're living, the small cul-de-sac of Peach Creek, they wave each other goodbye and wish each other a good day. Eddward vanishes behind his front door, and Katelyn is slightly hesitating to open hers. Her hand is stretched out before her, but has yet to make contact with the doorknob. Taking a few deep breaths, she forces her hand to move, and soon enough she has opened the door and stepped inside. Listening for a moment before calling out that she's home from school, she can finally take an actual steady breath as she's established that no one is home.

* * *

_Myyyyyyy goodness… this chapter just didn't want to be finished! I was originally planning to do a sort of "split p.o.v." like the first one, but with the length of this chapter, I had to decide against it. I did try – I really did – to shorten it down, but it just didn't work (or maybe it did, but I didn't allow myself to see it, I dunno). Anyway, this chapter is obviously from Katelyn's p.o.v. and I am planning on making the next one from Eddward's. The only thing I'm not entirely certain about is whether or not to make it his p.o.v. of this chapter, just some of this chapter with new events stuck into it, or to just move on in the story and let the next chapter be his p.o.v., but after the story of this chapter (like the next day or the next week or something like that.) _

_Depending on what I choose will naturally affect how long it will take to complete the next chapter – if I decide to make it all his p.o.v. from this chapter, then I already have like 90% of the material, I just need to do some slight changes to make it all a little more logical for his sake, but it will also be repetitive, and might be just plain boring – not just to write, but to read… so, yeah… _

_I think what I'm gonna do for now, is take a little break to think it through, and maybe let you who read the story let me know what you'd prefer. This story doesn't really have a story yet – I'm writing as I go – so I'm not going to be that heartbroken about what you say. Please let me know, because I'd hate to post something that people just find annoying and boring to read. _

_Anyway, thank you so much for reading this chapter and this message from me to you. It's been a long one… for all of us… but thankfully we've reached the end. Have a wonderful day and please let me know what you'd prefer for the next chapter. _

_Bye!_


	3. Chapter 3

_I don't know if this chapter needs a warning or not, please let me know. All I know is that rev!Eddy is hard to write, because I don't curse in my stories… wait… is "bastard" seen as a curse word? English is not my native language, so please let me know. Anyway, enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Chicken lasagna

**Eddward P.O.V.**

He's not certain on how he ended up in this situation, but here he is. Eddy, one of the few people who actually talks to him from time to time – whenever he sees it necessary in order to gain money or something of equal worth – and Ed, who's the largest member of the football team with a heart of equal size, and who for some reason follows Eddy like a loyal lapdog, have gathered (trapped him) in the library to talk to him. _Pfft… _Eddward rolls his eyes in his minds at the silly thought. Eddy's never been interested in mere simple chit chatting. Silly things such as that are time wasting, and as far as Eddy's concerned; time is money. _He most likely has some sort of idea that's a supposed moneymaker and he needs me to play a part in it, so to speak. _Leaning back in the chair, Eddward pretends to be listening to whatever Eddy might be saying to him before he raises his hands, growing tired of hearing the warthog's voice.

"Eddy." He says, effectively shutting the "man" up for a change. "We both know your opinion in small talks. Get to the point, will you?"

Eddy simply stares at him for a moment with a somewhat surprised expression on his face before his famous smirk appears and the childish gleam shines in his eyes. Placing his arms on the table between them, he leans closer to Eddward as if what he's about to tell him is top secret – so secret you share it with someone you're not even acquainted with in the school's library. Yes, the school. Eddward's at school. It's mostly because of Pumpkin. Ever since the first week went by Eddward decided to pop in once in a while just to see how things went for his little comrade. It didn't take him very long for him to learn that Kevin was a brand new target for bullies, something that didn't sit well with the swimmer. He decided to show up more often after that, just so that he could keep an eye on his little ginger friend. And to see his reaction whenever he randomly shows up and calls him Pumpkin. His reactions are as hilarious as they are addicting.

"That's exactly why we came to you, Double D." Eddy's horrible voice wakes him up from his thoughts, forcing him to remember that he's talking to the pig. Unable to stop the wrinkling of the nose because of the realization, Eddy merely sees it as a reaction for him using his nickname and just shrugs it off. He's used to it after all.

"And what – if I may – do you mean by that?" Eddward asks, hoping the end of their conversation will be soon.

"You know your stuff, you stud." Eddy grins. "That's exactly what we need for this scam of ours!"

Rolling his eyes dramatically, Eddward gets up from his seat in the chair and walks over to one of the bookshelves to find a book to read while the idiot spills the details on him and lets him know what he needs to do for them for whatever they're offering. In all honesty though, he just wants them to get out of his sight. Satisfied with the book he ended up with, he returns to the chair to sit down and somewhat listen to the warthog as he spills the details of the scam of his.

**Katelyn P.O.V.**

She had a feeling from the beginning that Eddward was not very liked by the school's students as well as personnel of all their different sorts, but it got so much more obvious when she was finally handed her own schedule. From being able to follow and hang with him for almost all of his classes, she now has no class with him. Even though they have some of the same kind of classes, the school has managed to work them around each other so that they'll never be in the same classroom at the same time, as if they're trying their best to keep Eddward away from everyone. It's… sad if anything, but also very disappointing. Given the year it is, you'd think people wouldn't be so quick to judge. But, oh well... there's nothing she can really do about that.

One of the biggest things that she has noticed – _however_ – after being on her own schedule and being pretty much on her own, is that the football team apparently has something against Eddward being acquainted with anyone – and they will find that _anyone_ and make sure they don't want to be an acquainted of Eddward no more. With fists, did she mention that? They're using fists to convince her… and words… she remembers one of the jocks saying something about her hair – or, her lack of it. She knows that she's not supposed to let something they're saying or doing to her get to her… but that hurt. Thankfully there were some girls around to hear the comment – and apparently the news about there being a cancer kid at school spread faster than a speeding lightning – and not only did they step in to talk the jocks off of her back, but to literally drag her away from them to console her about it to try and make her feel better. They did… but at the same time, it was _very awkward…_ they _are_ viewing her as a nerdy _boy_ after all.

However, side rant – she has noticed that her hair has finally started to grow out again. That makes her very happy. It's growing very slowly, so it's barely enough to be considered a "crew cut" – she thinks that's what it's called – but she can finally see the color of it again. Not to mention her eyebrows and eyelashes are back – sort of.

Well then, back to reality:

She has a small test to do, since she's pretty much new to it all, in English literature next week. Well… test and test. She's supposed to write a review about a book that she's supposed to read start to finish until the test. Nothing major, but it is also the reason why she finds herself on her way to the school's library. She's gotten her teacher's permission to head over there during class to fetch a book and start reading while the rest of the class work on going through the material that's going to be brought up in their test.

Turning a corner, she's enjoying the empty hallways more than she thought she would. It kind of reminds her of the halls at the hospital whenever she got restless legs during night and had to literally walk it off.

The library is almost completely empty, part from the librarian and a handful of students who appear to be either whispering to each other or trying to actually study. Making eye contact with the librarian, she smiles as she makes her presence known to the middle-aged woman and then heads on down the different pathways that have been made out of bookshelves. Finally finding where the actual novels are, she starts scanning the different titles of each book and reads what they're all about, hoping to find something that's her taste. She's not really on a time limit for this, as she doesn't have any actual test to study to, so she takes her time to find something that's actually catching her interest. And even when she does find something to read, she has permission to start reading in the library right there and then. A very nice class for once… _yeah_. After some time, she eventually finds something that seems to be somewhat interesting. The cover seems cool enough and the summary on the back did seem interesting, so she decides to give it a shot. Worst case scenario – it's not interesting and she puts it back on the shelf.

Book in hand, she finds herself a pouf in a corner between two bookshelves and sits down. She admires the cover once again, and hopes that the story is as good as it seems. The title is simple, yet intriguing – _Hatchet_ – and the cover is green with wild nature photos merged into the background to make it seem more dramatic. From what she understands from the summary, it's about a boy who ends up stuck in the wild, armed with nothing but a hatchet that his mother gave him for his birthday – _because that's normal (said book is also an actual real book and is one of my favorite). _She opens the book and starts reading lightly, as she tries to understand if it's worth her time or if she should search for something better. But it turns out more difficult than she first thought, as it would seem there's a very heated discussion going on, on the other side of the bookshelf the pouf is leaning against.

"_Are you insanely out of your mind?!_" A familiar voice hisses angrily yet silently at someone who seems to not care at all.

"_Come on!_ Why do you always have to be like that, huh? Give me one reason why it would be a bad idea to have a go with little Mr. Jimmy _know-it-all_?"

"Mr. Jamison White has a _shotgun!_ And he's very _eager_ to shoot its hail _everywhere!_"

There's a moment of silence and Katelyn has completely forgotten about the book in her hands. It seems good enough from what little she managed to read after starting to eavesdrop. _Now back to the story of this mysterious man with a shotgun…_

"Jamison White...? You mean as in Jimmy's dad…? How do you know that he has a shotgun?" The voice of the careless person asks and earns a heavy sigh in return – what kind of sigh, she cannot tell from where she is.

"Let's just say his aim is high." The first voice says, and she finally recognizes it as Eddward. _Wait… Eddward was shot at with a __**shotgun?! **__And whoever shot at him aims high – like shoulder and above?!_ _**How is he still alive?!**_

Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the most obnoxious sounding laughter she has ever heard. Seriously – it's cutting her inner ears in half and claws at her brain! Thank goodness for the librarian for shushing them from where she is. The laughter dies down to low chuckles as the person appear to be collecting themselves.

"_He shot at you?!_" The voice is breathless from laughing. "What did you do?!"

"Nothing that can be compared to what you're planning to do to him." Eddward sounds even more irritated than ever. It actually makes her want to laugh, but she can't let them know that she's there listening in on them. That would be awkward. Not as awkward as pretending to be a boy when you're actually a girl at the new school you're going at, but it's a close second.

"So… what? You think he's gonna do something worse than shooting with his gun?"

The conversation keeps on going back and forth between Eddward and whoever the other voice belongs to. She tries to listen in some more, but the sound of footsteps catches her attention. The footsteps appear to be approaching her, almost like they know she's there, so she tries to blend into the background by lifting the book and pretend to read some more of it. Soon enough a tall figure appears behind the bookshelves… she would like to say she noticed the person appear from the shadows by her sight, however she was raised to never lie. _My god above, when was the last time that person took a shower?!_ The smell brings tears to her eyes and forces her whole body's process of taking a breath to shut down, almost as if it's a reflex. She literally has to force her hands to remain where they are to stop them from covering her nose and mouth for extra protection.

The silhouette stops for a second or so, almost as if it's hesitating from proceeding ahead, so she makes the assumption that – whoever the person is – didn't know about her presence. As it does, she holds her breath and raises her head as if to show that she noticed them.

"Hey." The person speaks once she's able to see their face. "Sorry, I didn't know anyone else was here."

Another ginger with freckles… he's very tall though, and smelly… and just dirty. _Seriously, does this guy know what a shower is?_ She nods in response to him, keeping her mouth shut in fear for letting the smell in and taint her sense of taste. Lunch period is right after this lesson, and she really doesn't want the food to taste the same way that guy smells.

The obnoxious laughter echoes through the library again, causing the librarian to show up and shush it down again. The guy turns his head in the direction of the laughter, twisting his lips at it and then shakes his head at it. Maybe he's as tired of it as Eddward is? Who knows?

**Eddward P.O.V.**

Ed slowly makes his way out of the conversation. Not that he was a part of it to begin with. Eddward leans his head on his hand while "hearing" what Eddy says to him, all while following Ed with his eyes to see where the smelly giant is going. Once he's out of sight Eddward sighs, for now the only thing he's able to do is looking at Eddy and actually listen to what he says. The book that once was an option is no longer an option as Eddy's demanding figure tossed it away from the table to the shadows of some bookshelves… he's not certain where it went.

"Hey! Are you listening?!" Eddy asks in that one tone that demands an answer and all Eddward can do is roll his eyes one more time.

"What do you think?" He asks while preparing to stand up and leave as he's fairly certain that the warthog has finally had enough of him.

"Don't waste my time, Double D." That's not the response he wanted. He sighs silently as he prepares himself for another round of scam planning. "Okay, so I need you to break into Jimmy's locker in the changing room and place this in his bag for his dear ol' pops to find."

Eddward watches as Eddy turns around in his seat and starts digging in his bag, searching for something that's supposedly important for this scam. Whatever it might be, he highly doubts that it is of any use or worth. Soon enough Eddy sits back up again and turns towards him with the same grin from earlier as he places a small item on the table between them.

"…is that a breathalyzer?"

"Yes."

"Why do you have a breathalyzer?"

"That's not important. What is important is that you take it and place it in Jimmy's bag, in a pocket where he wouldn't think of checking, but for his dad to find right away."

"…why a breathalyzer?"

Now it's Eddy's turn to sigh. "Because his dad is an alcoholic bastard who gets super aggressive when drunk, and who doesn't care what you think about it but will beat you up real good if you try to make him quit or anything like that."

There's a moment of silence as Eddward processes the information Eddy has just given to him. He's already aware of Jimmy's dad being aggressive and drunk – heaven forbid he takes off his beanie to show you how he knows that. That being said… this scam is no longer a scam – its suicide.

"_Are you insanely out of your mind?!_" He hisses as low and dark as he can.

"_Come on!_ Why do you always have to be like that, huh? Give me one reason why it would be a bad idea to have a go with little Mr. Jimmy _know-it-all_?"

"Mr. Jamison White has a _shotgun!_ And he's very _eager_ to shoot its hail _everywhere!_"

Another moment of silence takes over as Eddy processes what Eddward just told him. His eyes have grown slightly larger and his skin a tone paler. Good. It's a good sign. It's a sign that he might understand him and maybe – just maybe – decide against his own scam.

"Jamison White...? You mean as in Jimmy's dad…? How do you know that he has a shotgun?"

Eddward sighs once more. "Let's just say his aim is high." He kills a second sigh from how stupid his guys can be when he hears the infamous obnoxious laughter of the said guy as he nearly falls out of his seat. Thank goodness for the librarian who shushes him down, saving everyone's ears by doing so.

"_He shot at you?!_" Eddy's breathless from the laughing. "What did you _do?!_"

"Nothing that can be compared to what you're planning to do to him." Growing even more and more irritated by the mere sight of the guy, Eddward forces himself not to curse or yell at him to just stop with this stupid scam of his.

"So… what? You think he's gonna do something worse than shooting with his gun?"

"Please allow my silence to speak for itself."

"Stop with the mystical stuff! Tell me!" Eddy now resembles a child who accidentally heard some bad gossip and wants to know more. This is causing Eddward to sigh for… _actually, I lost counting. _

"Just cease with this stupid idea of yours and none shall be harmed."

"I'm gonna take that as a 'no' on the stopping with mystical stuff." Eddy groans slightly as he leans back in his seat. Eddward's actually surprised that he's not yet fallen out of it.

He stands up again and heads back to the bookshelf to pick out another book to read before lunch starts. Then he might be able to catch Kevin and have an actual normal conversation with an actual normal person. How refreshing that sounds. When he sits down again he can feel Eddy's eyes on him but chooses to ignore him… until he can't. Looking up from the book, he meets Eddy's eyes and thinks for a moment.

"What made you decide to "prank" Jimmy? Surely you have something to gain out of this?"

"Uh… money?" Eddy says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Eddward just rolls his eyes at him and shakes his head. "And I was willing to give you something in return, you know."

"Oh?" Eddward says, pretending to be interested as he looks back down to read his book. "And what sort of payment were you planning to give me?"

"How about the names and addresses of every single guy that's doing your mom?"

_**Bloody murder**_. That's what Eddward's staring can be compared to. Just simple bloody murder. And gory. Let's not forget about gory. _**Gory murder**_. His eyes are so dark that no light can be seen through them. No light can pass them and survive… they seek death and murder… and if Eddy were not the guy that he was, he would be shaking in his boots by this glare, but, alas – he's not afraid. Not in the slightest. No, no – he's finally fallen out of his seat, laughing at Eddward's reaction, drawing the attention of the librarian once again.

As the librarian leaves to return to her desk, Eddward closes the book and stands up, placing it back on the shelves. Then he turns around, with the same dark stare, and grabs his bag. Eddy's still lying on the floor, still slightly laughing and still slightly shaking.

"_**Goodbye.**_" His cold voice snaps Eddy out of it and he's soon on his feet again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I didn't mean it like that dude!" The words he's using say one thing, but the light chuckle in his voice say another. "You know I have the fullest respect of your mother!"

Eddward turns slowly towards him, not changing his glare for the better by any means. For the first time in this conversation, Eddy seems to be catching the drift. _So he's not foolish enough to choose death it would seem._ As he starts blabbering apologies, Eddward once more mutes his voice out of his mind. He's not in the mood to be talking to this pig right now. Not now, not ever. But especially not now, right before lunch is about to start. He's hungry and just plainly tired of being somewhere he doesn't want to be.

"Wait a sec…!" Eddy suddenly breaks character and starts looking around. "Where did Lumpy go?"

"He got up and left a while ago. I'm surprised you haven't noticed yet." Sometimes Eddward truly wonders how this shorter guy managed to get a friend at all. He doesn't even notice when said friend gets up and leaves his side.

It doesn't take long for the shorter teen to turn on his heels with a scowl on his face and march away to find his partner, leaving Eddward alone – finally. Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, Eddward starts walking out of the little corner he was sitting in when he was captured. It's almost time for lunch, and since he's got nothing better to do, he might as well get a decent place in the line. Eddy keeps roaming around between the bookshelves, still searching for the gentle stinking giant… until he finds him, and apparently someone else.

"Ed! Who are you talking to?" Eddy's voice is as angry and demanding as ever.

"Relax; I'm just talking to Kevin."

Eddward stops dead in his tracks. Kevin is here? Turning on his heels, he follows the sound of the two other Eds (as the neighborhood likes to call them) to find his ways. Sure enough, once he finds Eddy, he finds Ed, and as soon as he finds Ed…

"Pumpkin!" He doesn't try and hide his enjoyment to see the little ginger… not because he wants the little ginger to get in trouble or anything, but because he temporarily forgot about the warthog and giant. He's soon reminded of their presence.

"_PUMPKIN?!_" Eddy's obnoxious laughter echo through the library yet one more time – and once again causing the librarian to show her face to shush him up. Poor lady.

Staring daggers in the shorter teen, Eddward tries his best to control his annoyance. In the meantime, Kevin seems to be both embarrassed and confused. It must be the first time he's ever met the other Eds. Makes sense. Eddy rarely shows up at school as well, as he spends most of his time selling whatever it is he manages to make with the stuff he finds in his kitchen, and Ed focuses everything on the football team and their practices. He also doesn't like bullying, which would explain why he's never seen Kevin before – and the other way around.

Looking back at Kevin, he seems a little calmer now that Eddy's laughter is dying down. That's good… but he also knows that his little friend will ask him about the other two at lunch, and that's going to be… _fun…_ Kevin meets his eyes and smiles carefully, as if he's sensing the odd and tense atmosphere, and holds up a book in his hands for Eddward to see.

"My English class has a test next week." He says. "But, since I've only just started, my teacher told me to go and fetch a book that I can write a review of, so… here I am."

Taking in his words, it's obvious that he's trying to jump from one topic to another. For that, Eddward is grateful and he can feel himself calming down a little as Ed starts telling Eddy to cool it down before they're thrown out. That seems to help with the whole 'Eddy' situation, for the moment at the very least.

"So…" Whatever Kevin was about to say – I'm not even sure he managed to plan what he was going to say – is interrupted by the bell, signaling to everyone that lunch has started. _So much for getting a decent place in the line. Oh well. _

It doesn't take very long for Ed and Eddy to get up and disappear into thin air. Something tells him that they're not going to lunch… well, not Eddy. Ed however, being the good football player that he is, most likely will be present at lunch to catch up with the rest of the football team.

His attention is captured by his little comrade trying to get off/out of the pouf he's sitting in. He's just about to ask if he needs help when he manages to crawl out of it, dusts his pants a little and then stands up straight, hands on hips, book still in hand, looking proud of himself. Shaking his head from the childish pride that shines in Kevin's eyes, Eddward tries his best not to let the chuckle out. Kevin quickly makes his way past the swimmer and heads to the librarian to get the book checked out to read and review. Eddward follows suit to get the book he was reading checked out… not that he's planning to read it every day, but he might be able to use it as an excuse to visit the library every now and then.

Following Kevin to the librarian desk and standing behind him while waiting for his turn to check out his book, he allows his mind to drift a little. Until he notice movement right in front of him. Looking before himself, he manages to catch Kevin turning around and almost walking straight into him, almost as if he forgot about him being there. A struggled, choking like sound escapes Kevin as he manages to stop himself from walking into Eddward, and then he takes a massive step to the side to get out of his way. He grabs at his cap and seems to be trying to hide his face from the swimmer, which only causes the swimmer to shake his head one more time and forgetting to keep the chuckle at bay. He receives an irritated glare in return for the chuckle, but it holds so little seriousness that he can only chuckle some more for the sake of it.

Once they're done, they start heading to the lunchroom. The halls are now crowded with students heading in every direction possible, most are heading towards the lunchroom, and others are just walking around. Glancing down at Kevin, he finds that the ginger has stuck his head in the book, barely paying any attention to what's going on around him – or in front of him. Reaching out, Eddward gently grabs his shoulder and guides him around a little to help him avoid walking into people. He doesn't have to help him for very long before Kevin realizes what he's doing and puts the book down. Scratching the back of his head, he turns towards Eddward with a slight embarrassed expression on his face.

"Heh… sorry about that. When you stay at the hospital for a certain time you will get through their entire collection of books and novels." The way he acts so shyly and embarrassed is enough to smile genuinely. And that's what Eddward does right now.

"Not to worry." He says. "It merely means you've found something of your liking."

A small smile spreads on the freckled face, and it appears that Kevin is about to say something when the inevitably happens – albeit a little later than expected. A large jock appears in front of them out of nowhere, and tiny little Kevin smashes right into the larger teen's torso with a loud thud. Before anyone is able to react, a large hand grabs the front of Kevin's shirt and forces him into the lockers next to them.

"_Watch where you're going you little-!_" His rude comment is interrupted by a firm hand being placed on his shoulder and what little color his skin had is now almost completely gone. Turning over his shoulder to see the face that's to be looked down upon – and feared – Kevin, along with the jock, catches the most unreadable smile they've ever seen.

"My deepest apologies, however, I do believe that's my comrade that you're currently messing with." His smile says one thing, but the coldness in his voice and eyes say murder. "Would you be so kind and _let go of him?_"

The jock – Eddward has no idea who he is or what his name is – seems to be a bit hesitant on how to react, standing so close to Eddward Marion Vincent. Eventually though, he lets go of Kevin and shakes Eddward's hand off of his shoulder before walking off to wherever. Eddward follows him with his gaze to make sure he really is going away. Once he's settled with that, he turns to Kevin to see how he's doing. Seems a little shaken up, but otherwise he seems to be ok. In all honesty, it's sad to see him being harassed by others just because he's so small and for being, well, a nerd – not that that's a bad thing. If anything, that makes him even more interesting than other people – it means he has a brain and he knows how to use it.

"Are you alright?" Eddward tries. He's not very good with human contact – a side effect from being exiled from everyone. You have no idea how to actually talk to other people that seem interested in talking to you.

"Y-yeah." Kevin says, small smile on his face – so it seems to be working. "I just didn't see where I was going and, well… accidents happen."

Twisting his lips a little, he decides to leave it there. There's a time for everything, and right here, right now is not the time and place to talk about bullying to a bullying victim. Now is the time to make sure he's somewhat ok and then eat so that they can think properly for the rest of the day.

Lunch passes rather fast. They get their food and spend most of the time talking about whatever, but when there were a couple of minutes left they decided it was for the best to get to class. Small talking is being exchanged between the two until the bell rings and forces them to go different ways. Or, rather, Eddward walks Kevin to class as he doesn't plan on going to his class. He's more into the idea of crashing at the library again – hopefully without being forced into annoying scam planning with a greedy idiot.

"Study hard Pumpkin." He says with a teasing smile as soon as they reach Kevin's class. As always, he gets the childish annoyed glare from the smaller teen that merely causes him to smile teasingly even more.

"Yeah, well, you'd do well following that advice to, you know?" Kevin says, crossing his arms at him to strengthen his point.

Eddward just shakes his head at him, turns on his heels waving at him and then heads down towards the library. He can quite literally see the smaller teen shake his own head at him before going into class at the last minute.

The hallways are soon empty again, as the warning bell rings signaling that time is up for those who are not in class yet – well, for those who care about not being in class yet. Spending the rest of the school day at the library, no matter what the librarian might think or say later on, Eddward feels comfortable where he is; surrounded by knowledge that he can process at his own rate, on his own and in a calm, quiet surrounding. The final bell rings just as he finishes a chapter in the largest history book that he could find. He puts the book away, placing it on the same shelf he found it on and then goes to find Kevin so they can walk home together, like they always do whenever Eddward decides to show up at school. The halls are much more alive at this time of the day – because everyone is happy about being allowed to go home and do whatever they want – but it's still very easy to find his ginger friend, as it appears he decided to go find Eddward before the bell rang.

Stepping out of the library, Eddward stops immediately in his tracks as he spots Kevin waiting for him right outside the library door. Cocking an eyebrow at him, all he receives is the same impatient-yet-patient smile you give a friend.

"Ready to go?" Kevin asks, holding the strap of his shoulder bag while standing up from leaning against the wall.

"_Oui_. Let's go."

A more happy smile replaces the first one and they start walking towards the doors. Blocking out the sounds of eager teenagers, Eddward focuses on keeping the jocks at a respectable distance. Though he's aware of Kevin being bullied, the little incident before was the first of which he got to experience the bullying so up close – when he was walking side by side with him – and it just left him a little on guard. Once they're out of school things get a little calmer. Merely because there are no walls forcing them all together, they're more spread out at the schoolyard. But once they're out of the schoolyard, _then_ things calm down to more normal levels.

Pulling out his phone to check if he's got a message from his mother – to see if he should stay away from home for a little longer or not – he breaths out a sigh when he sees no message. Coast is clear, so to speak.

They walk in relative silence, but do start small talking every now and then, when a topic comes to mind or so. Once they're at the qul-de-sac, they automatically walk a little slower just to keep the conversation going. But when it comes to an end they wave each other goodbye and head toward their respective home. Kevin walks in through his front door and Eddward unlocks his only to find it unlocked already. This can only mean one out of two things. One; he forgot to lock the door when he left for school this morning _(which never happens, I'll have you know)_. _Two (and most likely the correct one)_; his mother is back from work and left the door unlocked for him.

Opening the door and smelling the wonderful scent of his mother's cooking, he can verify that it is indeed the second one. He closes the door, takes off his shoes and grabs his bag before he walks into the kitchen to see what she is cooking. She's standing with her back towards him, cutting some vegetables to make a small salad they can have as a small side dish, a little appetizer. Walking over to the kitchen table, he places his bag on one of the chair, making enough sound for her to hear him and turn around to see him.

"Eddward!" She gasps softly. "You frightened me."

"Sorry mother." He smiles at her. "What are you making?"

"Oh, I was just craving a bit of lasagna but also a little bit of chicken, so I decided to try and make chicken lasagna of some sort." She says while turning back to cutting the salad. "Hopefully it will be just as tasty as it sounds."

"Your cooking always is." He smiles at her and watches as she returns to preparing the dinner for them. "I fear to ask, but how was work today?"

A soft sigh escapes her before she answers – smile still intact. "It was alright. We had a new girl in today that we're meant to train up before she's allowed to take… customers."

"'_Train up'?_ How do you _train up_ someone in your field of work?" Eddward asks with slight confusion mixed with skepticism.

"It's just a phrase the boss likes to use whenever someone new shows up." His mother answers. "It's basically a week of talking to her what the work is about and if she really has no other work to take, or if she has nowhere else to go."

Eddward remains silent for a while, thinking over what she just told him. A whole week of just talking to the girl about the situation she's about to put herself into, and if it really is the only option she has… and they're paying her during said week…? That actually sounds… humane of the horrible man that is his mother's boss. Twisting his lips, he can't help but feel like there's a secret catch with this kind of action. It doesn't fit what he knows about that working field.

Sensing her son's disturbed thoughts and confusion over what she just told him, Ms Vincent puts the knife down on the cutting board and dries her hands on the kitchen towel before turning around to talk to her son, face to face.

"Eddward." She says softly, catching her son's attention. "I know you do not care much for that man, but he isn't a monster to us. He is very protective of his personnel and makes sure that we are treated well by our customers and each other."

He only stares at her, not looking convinced in the very slightest. She sighs a little at his stubbornness. She'd like to say he gets that from his father's side, but… well… shaking her head, she sits down at the table next to him.

"He actually heard about the man you forced out of our house."

"What?" Eddward asks, now staring at his mother with big eyes, watching as his mother merely nods at him.

"Yes Eddward. The man you forced out came to his office and… said some very unfriendly things about you and me as well. That's what caused him to start taking his position as a boss much more seriously. You opened his eyes, so to speak, to the risks we're facing by just doing our jobs." He might be fighting it, but there is a small proud smile trying it's darnest to see the light of day. All its doing is making her keep going. "Everyone at the office always talks about the small brave boy who saved his mother from a psychopathic man."

"No they're not." Eddward denies, calling out her bluff – though it's not really a bluff.

"They are! They're always talking about you to me and asking how you're doing. It's almost impossible not to hear someone mention you every day. They're all very proud of you."

"Nonsense." Eddward shakes his head and picks his bag up from the chair again, signaling that the conversation is over for now – signaling that he's going to drop off his bag at his bedroom before coming downstairs again.

His mother watches him head up the stairs with a smile on her face, then gets up to return to the cutting board. She's just about done with the salad when he comes back down to sit at the table, talking to her while waiting for the lasagna to be done. She mixes the salad in a bowl and places it on the table before him before putting the cutting board and knife into the dishwasher.

"Oh!" She exclaims, remembering something she's wanted to ask him about. "How's your friend doing? What was his name…? Kevin?" She asks, receiving a smile and nod from Eddward. "I haven't met him yet. Why don't you invite him over some day?"

"It would be lovely mother, to have an actual friend over."Eddward smiles. "And to answer your earlier question, he's doing alright. I caught him being bullied again and intervened." A soft gasp escapes his mother.

"He's bullied? So soon after starting as well?" Shaking her head, he can imagine her voice her disappointment in the current generation in her head. "Well, you simply have to invite him over now, so that he knows he has a friend to rely on, and a second mother who cares about him. That is, if he allows me to be."

Smiling at his mother's warm kindness, he nods his head at her.

"I'll make sure he knows that, mother."

She smiles back at him in return. Suddenly, the timer on the microwave beeps, effectively ruining the warm moment to remind them about lunch and to let them know that it is supposed to be done by now. Jumping to her feet, Eddward watches his mother fetch the oven mittens and open the oven to take the lasagna out. Seeming happy with the result, she places it on the kitchen table, where the heat protection pad is. The sizzling is very calming when you sit down and listen to it, but right now all they can do is feeling the sweet, delicious scent and focus on it while their mouths water.

"Well, mother, I hate to jump into conclusions, but it seems to be a good one." Eddward smiles as he gets up to fetch them some plates.

"Thank you dear!" She smiles as she gets the cutlery for them.

Then they sit down to eat while talking to each other about anything and everything, just like mothers and sons do whenever they hang out.

* * *

_Man… again, this chapter didn't want to end! I don't even like the way it's ending as is, but I can't just keep going on at it! Then I'd never be done with it! I'd just sit and write the entire story in one chapter, and that doesn't sound good in my ears deary. _

_Anyway, I apologize on not managing to get Nathan Kedd Goldberg into this chapter – I'll try and bring him back in the next chapter. Also, just a small reminder that Nathan is not mine; **HE IS NOT MY CHARACTER! I DID NOT MAKE HIM UP!**_

_There. That should suffice I think. _

_And with that, there's only one thing left for me to say:_

_Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! See you in the next one!_

_Bye. _


	4. Chapter 4

_I'd just like to mention that I'm gonna keep leaving small messages at the start of each chapter, just because it seems to "fix" the chapter name, so that it's "in sync". So yeah – Hi! Enjoy! See you at the bottom!_

* * *

**Chapter 4**

_End of discussion! Period!_

It is now – officially – four weeks since she started going to this school, and for some reason, she feels like celebrating. Why you would like to celebrate something like this is beyond me, but who am I to deny anything that happens here? Anyway – her mood has been a little off as of late, but right here and now – she's happy, and she wants to celebrate! A whole month has passed since she started and for some reason she feels like she's reached a goal, which I suppose she kind of has.

Her excitement is immediately crushed as soon as she walks in the school's front doors.

"Hey dork!" A loud voice echoes down the halls she just started to walk by "Where do you think you're going?"

Stopping halfway through a step, she collects her thoughts and takes a deep breath. _This day started out so great._ She braces herself as she turns around to see who's calling on her only to see four jocks heading her way, looking mischievous as heck. Not a good sign. Mischief means fists and feet in their language.

A loud bang catches wakes her up from her thoughts. The jocks are now in front of her, literally looking down on her small frame while grinning viciously, exposing their teeth. It kind of reminds her of a pack of wolves – and she's a small little sheep trapped where she is, who can only wait and hope for the best. They're all staring at her as if they're waiting for her to do something… did they ask her something? She honestly doesn't know – she zoned out for a second, but a second is a lot of time to spill when you're surrounded like this. Slowly but surely, she can see their grins turn into frowns, and she twists her lips nervously. She always knew that boys usually got the worst kind of bullying, since guys don't seem so interested in punching girls – not that it's impossible or anything – but she would've never guessed it was like this. There is no hesitation, no mercy whatsoever when those fists are let loose.

"Are you listening?!" _Fudge_ – she zoned out again!

She has no idea who the guy is that grabbed the front of her shirt, nor does she really care because they're all wearing the same expressions – _slaughter time._ They drag her off a little, away from the front doors so they won't be noticed by teachers as easily, and then they form the infamous blocking circle around her to ensure she won't escape. Reasoning is out the window when it comes to this, but that doesn't mean she won't give it a try every time… until they break her enough to make her stop.

"C'mon guys!" She says, managing to keep her voice steady. "Are you really gonna do this again?"

"Well, we don't have much of a choice, now do we?" The guy with a firm grip of her shirt sneers at her. "Don't you know it's rude to daydream when someone is talking to you?"

"Why would he? With how much he hangs around Eddward, something like this was sure to happen." Another guy says with his own sneer. "He's tainted."

"That's what happens when you're around the son of a slut." A third joins in.

By now, another circle has started to form around them. Curious students with nothing better to do gather around to watch as she's being played with by the wolves. They're too afraid to step in and do something about it, afraid they'll be targeted along with her if they do – but their curiosity is too strong to ignore. And so, they watch, probably being grateful that it wasn't them who were being targeted.

The first fist is always the worst from what she can tell. It's such a chock for the body to just being fine and then suddenly there's this pain coming out of nowhere. Or maybe it's just that she always zones out so that she never manages to see the first fist coming, whereas the other fists, she's already been brought back from her thoughts by then so she can actually see them coming and somewhat prepare herself for it and for the coming pain. And that's where she's at right now. The first fist comes out of nowhere and the force behind it throws her into the wall behind her. Holding her sides and slightly leaning forward from the impact, she attempts to look back up at them only to be meet by their returned grins. The second fist is not far behind, nor is the third, the fifth… tenth… once she falls to the floor they immediately start using their feet. At least she's prepared for it so she can somewhat protect her vulnerable side a little better. Not by much, but a little better.

Her body eventually grows numb to the pain and everything around her. The continuous beating sound of her heart pumping blood is all she can hear and feel… until there's nothing. No fists, no feet. Slowly the numbness fades and the pain begins to set in, letting her know that they really did a number on her – again. As her heart calms down and the echoing beating goes away, she can hear voices fade back into her consciousness, arguing with each other for whatever reason. Since there's no punching and kicking anymore she decides to risk a little peek to see what's going on now. _Did a teacher intervene?_ Opening her eyes she can tell that someone did, just not a teacher.

"C'mon babe! It's not like that. Just a little refreshment for the dork." One of the jocks say to what she can only identify as the leader of a girl gang. Said girl stands tall and confident in front of the jocks with her friends by her side. She can't tell their expressions from where she is as they're all standing with their backs to her as they've stepped in the middle of the beating, facing down with the jocks they're apparently close with.

"'Refreshment'?! The girl in the front snaps, her shoulder long brown hair bouncing as she moves her head. "Is that what you're going to do and say if _**I**_ ever do something you find unacceptable?!"

"What?" The jock she's talking to asks. "What are you talking about?! Of course not!"

"Really? Because according to Lisa, all Kevin did was walking in through the front doors and you guys were all over him! What did he do to deserve that, _huh?!_"

People seem to be taken back by that, even slightly surprised, and Katelyn has no idea what for. She's sitting up as much as her beat up body allows her to and listens to the conversation in front of her. One of the girls standing by her friend turns around, probably reacting to her moving, and gasps when she lays her eyes on her.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" She asks with her soft voice and draws the attention from the rest of the girl gang.

"U-um…" Feeling slightly lost as the rest of the girls turn their heads and gasps from seeing her sitting on the floor… Katelyn has absolutely no idea what to say. "I-I… well…" The girl with the brown hair immediately turn her back to the jocks and crouches down to her level, two other girls slightly leaning down towards her, giving her their full attention – which only serves to make this all even more awkward to deal with.

"Hey." The brunette says with a friendly voice and sweet smile. "Are you okay? I'm sorry for what those idiots did to you and-"

"Babe, seriously!" The jock interrupts her with his attitude. "I get it! Okay? Can you please get over it already?"

The girl in question snaps her head around, accidentally swaying her hair in Katelyn's face, and glares daggers in the jock who's – if she understands the signs correctly – her boyfriend. _Something tells me he's not going to be a boyfriend for much longer._ She stands up to stand in the jock's face and _**–SLAP–**_ the entire hallway goes quiet. The three other jocks stand still with eyes at the size of saucers as they stare at their fourth member, or friend. Said jock is still keeping his head in the direction her slap forced it.

"I'm not your babe." The girl says with a surprisingly dark and cold voice.

Ignoring all the students watching in the background, the brunette girl turns around to her friends who – though they seem to be surprised as well – are just as pissed at the jocks as she is. Feeling slightly out of place, Katelyn tries to blend into the background so that she can slip away and just carry on with her day. Her plan crumbles though as she suddenly feels hands grab at her gently and arms wrap around her torso as the girls carefully gets her back on her feet. Once on her feet, the girls start to drag her away with them, not caring about the stares they get from walking away with a "dork" or "nerd". If only Katelyn could do the same. It's like the glares burn in her skin no matter how much she tries to avoid them – especially the daggers that are coming from behind.

She soon finds herself sitting in the library with the girls and talking with them for… whatever reason. She thought they were just going to lead her away from the jocks and then leave her be to go on with her day, but apparently not. The librarian looked a little surprised to see the gang of girls drag a small nerdish boy in this early in the morning, but she didn't say anything to them – just gave them the most suspicious look in the history of mankind. Finding a couple of poufs in a corner amongst the bookshelves, the girls sit Katelyn down before sitting down around her and talking to her about what happened and introducing themselves for her.

"I'm Amy." The brunette says with her pink lip gloss covered lips and then points to each girl saying their names as they wave at her. "That's Emma, Sarah, Victoria and Lisa – she's the one who saw what happened and told us." Smiling shyly, a small redheaded girl, Lisa, just barely raises her hand to wave at her.

"O-oh, thank you." Katelyn says, still feeling awkward about the whole situation.

They remain there in the library until the bell rings and force them to get moving to their first class of their day, but that doesn't stop the girls from sticking to her side and walk her to her class. Some other jocks that see them along the way seem to be caught very off guard with what they see and actually stops in their steps to have a second glance, as if to make sure what they're actually seeing. All this is making the way to the classroom so much longer than it actually is – especially when the girls slow down whenever they notice a jock or two look their way, as if they want them to see what's going on – as if they want to prove a point or something. Thank god they finally reach the destination! The classroom is in sight and Katelyn has to force herself not to run away from the girls and into safety and normality.

"Well, here we are." Amy says with the same soft voice of hers. "I really am sorry about what happened. For what it's worth, I'm not dating that jerk anymore."

"Oh, well… thanks." Katelyn scratches the back of her head nervously. "I'm sorry about the break up though…"

"Aw… don't be!" Amy smiles and wraps her arms around her. "It's his fault, not yours."

The girls eventually leave her and allow her to walk into the classroom to get back to her day. She can faintly hear them talk about her – calling her "cute" and "sweet"… and she's not sure how to take that.

Taking her seat, she lets out a deep breath and allows her day to finally start the way it was meant to start. Taking notes throughout the lesson, she tries her best to focus on what the teacher says, but she can't shake the feeling of being watched. Carefully looking around the classroom, it doesn't take very long for her to notice some random students whisper and occasionally looking over their shoulders at her. Yeah… the girl rescue event seems to be very "gossip worthy". Hopefully it will be over soon enough… though the breakup between Amy and that jock might keep it alive longer than she would like. Something tells her that Amy – along with the rest of the girls in that gang – is one of the "popular kids".

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to collect her thoughts, she suddenly feels a slight pulsating pain in her abdomen. At first she thinks she might be a little sore from the beating and doesn't pay too much attention to it. It slightly fades away for a moment, but then it comes back, more powerful and not only from her abdomen – but also from her lower back. Did they really beat her that bad that the fists in her guts affected her back as well? That doesn't seem right, but it's hard to see another reason to explain the pulsating pain. Taking some deep breaths, hoping no one notice her discomfort, Katelyn tries to keep herself cool and calm and pretend like nothing is wrong, allowing the lesson to carry on as usual… which it does. Nothing unusual happens and she takes all the notes she can with the time she has. Once the lesson is over she collects her stuff and heads over to the next one – which is just what a normal day at school is. Luckily it's one of her favorite ones; Calculus. It's kind of like gymnastics but for the brain! It's _her_ kind of gymnastics. However, she would've enjoyed it more were it not for the odd pain which doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

Once lunch finally claims its hour she can feel how she's not hungry for anything. She knows that she should eat something so that she will make it throughout the day, but… she just doesn't have the appetite to eat anything. Nothing sounds or seems tasty enough for her to actually want to eat it. She does however force herself to, because she has to. And thus, she finds herself standing in line with all the other students, waiting to get something to eat. While waiting, she decides to look around the lunchroom to see if she'll spot Eddward somewhere. He doesn't always show up at school which is a little worrisome for her – she worries easily about others – but it's also boring. She always sits by herself whenever he doesn't show up, since she hasn't been able to make any other friends to hang with since, you know, no one seems interested in talking to her since she talks to Eddward. It's a weird thing to say, but it's also for some reason an unwritten rule that everyone seems to follow.

"_Handsomino!_" Well… _almost_ everyone. Turning towards the overly excited voice, she suddenly finds herself face to face – _nearly nose to nose_ – with the one and only Nathan Goldberg with that big smile of his along with the spiky teal hair. "How are you doing _cutie?_" Face in flames, she gathers herself just enough to answer his question.

"I'm just fine, Nat." She smiles. "And well… how are you?"

"Oh sweetie, you just would not _believe it_ if I told you!" Nat nearly shouts out as he places his arm around her shoulder, effectively sneaking in to share her place in line. He keeps on telling her about his horrible day – in which "horrible" apparently means '_no-butt-caressing_' in his book. Placing food down on her tray, she tries to sneakily make her way away from him, but fails miserably as he quite literally drags her away to a table. Sitting down she makes sure to watch his movements very carefully. It's not like she doesn't trust the guy, but rather that she has no idea how to read him and his… _enthusiasm?_ He did just tell her that his day was awful because he'd yet to caress someone's behind, and no offense, but she's not about to volunteer for _that._ Listening to him rambling, she eats very slowly as the pain is slowly making her just the slightest nauseous. And again – she really doesn't want to be rude or anything, but his talking about everyone with fantastic _butts_ is not helping her.

"Hey. Are you okay?" He asks with a much calmer voice. Looking up from her tray she can see that he has calmed down somewhat and actually seems to be serious. From what she's been lead to believe about this dude, she actually thought him being serious was impossible. Swallowing her small bite of food she smiles back at him.

"Yeah." Her voice is not as confident as she would've liked it to be. "Why do you ask?"

"Well… not to be rude or anything _buttercups_, but you're kind of pale."

"Oh!" _Does it really show that much?_ "I-eh… I don't feel too good, I guess."

"You're still hurting?!" Another voice joins their conversation, claiming their attention.

In front of them, along with her friends from earlier and some new ones, stands none other than Amy, holding a tray of her own. She's wearing a look of deep concern and doesn't waste any time walking up to their table to sit down with them, right next to Katelyn, with her friends following her suit. Putting her tray down at the table, she turns to look Katelyn in the eyes and slightly leans closer as if to have a closer look – like she's trying to see what's wrong.

"Where do you hurt _hun?_" She asks with such a sweet voice.

"Ah-" Katelyn slightly backs away in her seat, feeling that she is much too close for comfort. "J-just my abdomen and lower back are a little sore still, I guess." She tries to sound confident, she really does, but with the way all the girls are now looking concerned, she really doesn't feel like it.

"What? What are you guys talking about?" Nathan asks, trying to get in on what they're possibly referring to. Katelyn can't help but feel how he is so out of place right now – for _two_ reasons, but the poor fella might only ever know about _one_ of them.

"You didn't hear?" One of the girls asks him. "John and company beat him up first thing in the morning."

"_NO!_" Nathan gasps loudly, slamming his hands on the table.

"_Yes!_" Another girl chirps in. "They literally just cornered him and beat him up for no reason at all!"

"They even went so far that Amy dumped John's stupid ass." A third girl – actually, that might be Lisa, if she remember the names correctly – adds in. At this Nat turns his attention towards Amy as if to silently ask for confirmation. Looking her way slightly, Katelyn catches her nodding slightly while turning her gaze downwards, almost as if she's ashamed of something. _Maybe she just doesn't like it being thrown out like that? _But then Nat opens his big mouth and makes the whole table go quiet.

"About time you did!" He actually sounds slightly irritated. "Tell me; how many times have I told you to dump him? That he's nothing but a douche bag?" Shrinking in on herself some more, Amy quietly answers.

"I-I don't know…"

"Exactly!" Nat says. "That's how many times I've told you to leave that asshole!"

Well then, the tables have turned so that Katelyn is now feeling awfully, horrendously out of place at this table. She's just sitting there in her seat watching as these teenagers talk to each other – like they're in some sort of teenage movie and she's got the front seat to the show. It's almost so distracting to make her forget the pulsating pain that has decided this was a good moment to get extra intense. Driven to lean forward, Katelyn closes her eyes as she focus on the pain in her guts and back. She's so focused that she doesn't even hear herself groan in pain, or the others trying to check if she's alright. When a hand comes down on her shoulder and slightly shakes her does she come back and leans back in her seat to look at the people around her. They're all looking worried for her, and she doesn't know what to think about it. I mean, it's sweet that they care so much, but… with everything about her being a she and not a he… she's not sure how to react to any of their kindness! Nevertheless, she forces herself to give them a smile that does nothing to help getting rid of those worried expressions of theirs.

"Sweetie, are you okay?" Amy asks, letting her hand remain on her shoulder to show her support, I suppose. "You really don't seem like it."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine!" Katelyn gives them the smile again, hoping it will work. "I'm just a little sore, that's all."

"Still?" The worry in her eyes just keeps growing and her hand is now massaging her shoulder slightly. _Yeah, that's awkward._ Not as awkward as Amy suddenly standing up and pulling Katelyn up with her.

"Uh, Amy?" Nat asks, seeming to be just as confused as Katelyn is.

"Relax; I'm just taking him to the nurse to have him checked out." She says as she slowly makes her way from the table with Katelyn in hand.

"Actually…" Katelyn says while moving forward, slightly pulling her arm out of Amy's grasp. "I think I need to go to the restroom first."

Amy, Nat and the rest of the girls watch as Katelyn starts walking away from them, leaving her barely eaten lunch behind on the table with them. It's not that she actually has to go to the restroom because she has to go or throw up – she just doesn't want to get the school nurse involved. So, all in all, she's stalling.

She can still hear Amy, and even Nat, calling after her as she walks away from them, but she's currently too busy coping with the pulsating in her insides… so busy she can't see the assholes in front of her, and thus crashes into them because _of course she did_. As her entire body, every cell in her body rolls their eyes at the "coincident" she finds herself facing, she takes a step back and looks up at the person she accidentally ran into, just to make the rolling eye thing happen once again.

"Well, hello there, _nerd!_" John smirks and pushes her up against the wall. "Didn't get enough of your lesson this morning, did _ya?!_" His smile gets bigger as more of the jocks starts gathering around them again, much like this morning, as they all seem to get ready for a second round. Sure enough, not even two seconds later, a fist is being swung into her guts.

"_John!_" Amy's voice echo down the hallway and as if it's a reflex, John drops Katelyn to the floor to turn towards the brunette and her company. Amy is literally running up towards them with Nat and the girls at her heels. "Are you serious? _Again?!_" At this point, John is rolling his eyes at her.

"Yeah, so? What's it to you anyway?" He asks in an accusing tone. "You never said anything about it before, so why now? You got the hots for this nerd or something?" _(Slight author's note: Is 'the hots' something you say? Because the word 'hots' does not exist in this dictionary, and since English is not my native language, I get unsure, so please answer.) _Amy seems to be taken a little back by his question, but from what it seems she doesn't let it faze her.

"No, I don't." She says sternly.

"Is that so?" John sneers at her and grabs Katelyn by the back of her shirt and hoists her back up to hold her in front of him, as if to present her to Amy and the others. "Then why do you care so much about what happens to him? _Hm?_" He raises the hand he holds her with, forcing her to be standing on her toes in order to not get strangled by her own shirt.

"Because it's wrong?" Amy says, getting more and more impatient with the jock. "Ever thought about that?!"

"What's so wrong about this?!" He snaps at her. "I'm just reminding the nerd of the different ranks we have!" He suddenly drops her to the floor and leans over her, glaring at her. "See; he's on the bottom, and we're on top!"

"Is that so?" Nat's voice freezes him in his movement. "Well, why don't we go and ask coach about that, huh? See what he has to say about it?"

Looking up from the floor, Katelyn sees the expression shift and change in John's face, as if he's caught with the hand in the cookie jar and doesn't know what to do, which punishment that is better for his pride. Nat seems to have the upper hand on him in this, whatever this is, and that at least is making her a little calmer. She doesn't know much about these guys, like at all, but she's happy that they've decided to let her get on their good side in this matter. She knows a little, like Nat being on the school's football team, and Amy, along with some of the girls, she's seen in the school's cheerleader outfits, so they're cheerleaders she thinks. But other than that… that's it.

"Dude, seriously." One of the jocks behind John says. "You can't get Amy and Nat angry with you and then get the coach involved. That's just suicide!"

"Why do you all assume I'm afraid of Nat?!" John snaps back at him.

"He is our _captain!_" Another jock says back to him, effectively silencing him as he turns forward to glare some at Nat again.

In the middle of this, Amy stands a little closer to her as Nat is having some sort of stare down with John. She's reaching her hand out for Katelyn to take, and though she hesitates a little, she grabs her hand and lets her be brought back up to her feet. Amy smiles at her with a sweet smile and for a moment it seems like it's over… but it's not. A rough and hard hand suddenly grabs her by the shoulder and turns her around to face John once more. They make eye contact for not even a tenth of a second before he throws a fist at her, but even in that little time, Katelyn can clearly see the hatred burning in his eyes. The fist is much harder than it's ever been before and it's hitting her right in her guts, right in the intestines, right in the… oh god... Oh God! Her bladder!_ He hit her bladder full force!_ _Lord above!_ The force behind his fist is strong enough to send her back into the wall with the spine first, causing Amy to gasp loudly and Nat to shout something she can't currently comprehend. She's far too busy with the bladder situation! Or rather, far too busy making sure there _won't_ be a bladder situation! Pushing her hands into her guts in a desperate attempt to keep everything in order, she slowly allows gravity to pull her back down to the floor once more. Even though her eyes are open, she can't really see what happens in front of her. Amy is by her side along with some girl while Nat is shouting something at John, however all her focus is on keeping the content of her bladder _in_ her bladder.

"Come on Kevin!" Amy says and places her arms under Katelyn's to help her up, lifting her up like a kitten almost. "Let's get you to the nurse!" Katelyn allows her to be lifted up to her feet, but she remains where she is standing when Amy is trying to get her to walk in the direction of the school nurse. "Kevin?"

"No!" Is all her strained voice can say, hands still pressed just above where her bladder is, which is not helping with Amy's worried expression and posture. "Toilet! _Now!_" She almost shouts the words out and forces herself to move. Amy watches with the same worried expression and quickly follows after her along with Lisa and another girl, leaving Nat to deal with John.

Once inside the men's restroom – _it took her a while to learn to take that door, let me tell ya_ – she hurries to the nearest stall and closes the door behind her and locking it. That. Was. _Close!_ Now she's really glad they went to the restrooms first! Although, if they had gone to the nurse first, they might not have run into John and company, but whatever!

Letting a sigh escape her, she starts preparing to get out of the stall as the deed is done. It is at this moment that she notices the one thing that she's almost forgotten about. Something that hasn't happened to her for a little more than a year and a half – _she's on her period!_ She won't lie; at first the sight of the blood was terrifying, making her knees shake and all that. She actually thought that John had caused her to have internal bleeding all of a sudden, but then the memories of being a female before the hospital came flooding back into her mind. She's back on her period, and for some reason, she feels like crying… actually, that might not be surprising at all. Come to think of it, that also explains the weird pain she's been feeling today. The beating up this morning just happened to be on the same day, so that's all that happened. That's good to know. All is good after all… and now the tears are a fact. She's not sure why she's crying, but at this point she doesn't really care. She's been beaten, been protected, facing awkward situations and now been beaten again while being protected again… and now… she's just happy. She's just so happy to know that her body is finally strong enough – healed enough – to get back on track with its natural schedule. _(Author's note; for those who don't know; a woman's body will stop the period cycle if it's not strong enough to endure such a "heavy task". Be it if it's to malnourished, to overweight or just too sick. You can look this up. It's very interesting.)_ A soft knock on the stall door brings her back to reality.

"Kevin? Is everything okay?" Amy asks with a very small voice… _wait a minute! What is __**she**__ doing in the men's restroom?!_

"U-uhm…" Not sure what to say, she clears her voice and just gets ready to get out of the stall so they can talk face to face instead of… face to door to face…? _Never mind_. She grabs the door handle and opens the door so Amy can see her in person, and hopefully calm down some… or maybe not. Looking at Amy, she can still see the very worried expression on the brunette's face. "I-eh…"

"What?" Amy asks, sounding as careful as she possibly can – probably. Either that or she's confused. "What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh! No, no!" Katelyn says and starts waving her hands in front of her, as an attempt to stop Amy's train of thoughts. "N-nothing's wrong! Everything's fine!" She says and tries to smile, but it turns into a weird face and Amy does not look convinced… _and then she shrieks_.

Hands suddenly grab her shoulders and pull her out from the stall. She soon finds herself standing in front of Amy, Lisa and another girl she has yet to remember the name of. They're looking at her with huge eyes without saying anything to her. Wrecking her brain as an attempt to find something to say, she soon finds Amy's hand on her again, grabbing her right wrist and holding it up for them all to see. But why? Why is she so… _oh…!_ So that's what she saw… Looking down on her hand, Katelyn can't help but stare at the blood that's on stage. The girls all gasps as they stare at the red spot on her hand, and Katelyn can feel the panic start to swell up in her. On one note, she's glad that the "secret" is finally over and done, and that she can get back to actually be a girl at school and all that… but on the other note… why this way? Just why? This is literally the worst way possible for her secret to come out! There's so much to fix after this! So much damage!

Amy's eyes burn in her skin, but what can she do? Gulping down her worries in a desperate attempt to get her train of thoughts moving, Katelyn uses her free hand to scratch the back of her head, like she always do when she's nervous. Amy's eyes never leave her. She must be waiting for something, some kind of response, an explanation, but before she can even think of one, Lisa rushes out of the restroom while shrieking from the top of her lungs. _That can't be good…_ Nat is still standing out in the hallway, making sure John doesn't go anywhere, when Lisa storms out shrieking. Her actions effectively catch the attention of everyone in the hallway, and the ones connected to it. No one has any time to say anything to her before she yells out something that causes everyone's blood to freeze – Katelyn's more so than everyone else's.

"_HE'S BLEEDING!_" She shrieks and points at John. "YOU HURT HIM SO BAD HE'S BLEEDING FROM HIS _INTESTINES!_"

_To say that the school went quiet from that statement is an understatement. _

Back in the restroom, Katelyn can feel her body go stiff and numb from hearing what Lisa yelled out to everyone. Amy and the other girl are still standing in front of her, and from what she can tell, they're frightened for her. They might even be trying to bring her back to life with how they grab her shoulders and shake her slightly, like they're trying to snap her out of it. They're yelling something at her as well – might be her name – but she can't tell. Where the circumstances different, she would've admitted the sweet gesture… but…

Amy suddenly grabs her wrist once more and starts pulling, forcing her to follow her out of the restroom to where the others are along with other students that have showed up to see what all the commotion is all about. As soon as they're outside the restroom, Nat hurries up to them to talk to Amy and attempt to talk to Katelyn...

"What happened?!" He asks. Amy doesn't answer him, she just holds up Katelyn's hand for them all to see the blood on it… and suddenly Katelyn realize that she has yet to wash them. _Good grief! _

"_THIS_ is what happened!" Amy says whilst showing the blood to everyone. "John and his horrible temper have literally given Kevin _internal bleeding!_" A heavy mood settles over everyone present in the hallway after hearing Amy's words, and they all turn towards John to see the face of the guilty one. Well, almost everyone. Katelyn is still struggling with the fact that her hands are still not washed after using the restroom. She's carefully trying to get herself out of Amy's grasp to go and wash them, but the brunette will not budge.

"_What?_" John snaps loudly as everyone stares at him. "That's completely bull! How am I supposed to have done that?"

"You know he's been on cancer treatment for more than a year!" Amy yells at him. "Do you know what that means?! It means he's literally been _pumped full of radiation for over A YEAR!_ His body is not _nearly_ as strong as everyone else's!" At this comment, Katelyn ceases her struggle to get free just to stare at Amy with a big question mark on her forehead. '_Pumped full of radiation_'…? That's not… That's… No – Just No! That's not what the treatment is like!

"Um…?" Raising her hand and trying to get in on this weird argument, Katelyn is immediately shot down by John's angry voice.

"_Give me a break!_" He snarls at her and soon they're fighting with each other, which actually make it even clearer that this really isn't the best time to talk about cancer treatment and what it's actually like, and thus, Katelyn remains silent. After a moment, Amy gets so riled up in the argument with her ex that she lets go of Katelyn's wrist to throw her hands up in the air at him. Looking down at her wrist for a moment before looking back up at the two arguing teens, Katelyn debates whether she could just go and wash her hands quickly and be back without them noticing or…

"Lisa! Go get the nurse!" Amy yells. "We need to get Kevin to the hospital!"

"What?" Katelyn snaps her attention towards Amy and then to Lisa as she starts running to the nurse's office. "Wait! W-we don't need to-"

"Kevin, stop!" Amy turns around to look at her. "This is serious! You've been hurt badly and you need to get checked by a doctor!"

"But I'm not-"

"Kevin, please!" Amy places her hands on her shoulders as if to calm her down. "I don't know why you're so shy about being helped, but you can't ignore this kind of thing! For all we know you might be dying!"

"_Yeah, right!_" John walks up to them and pulls Katelyn out of Amy's grip. "Just look at him _idiot!_ He's fine!" He says over his shoulder to Amy before turning to glare Katelyn in the eyes. "I bet he's just acting to get attention, like the sad little _bald_ dork he is." And with that, he grabs the cap on her head and throws it away so everyone can see her lack of hair.

Feeling a tug at her heart, Katelyn closes her eyes and tries her best to get the word out of her head, but it's hard when the jerk keeps on chanting it at her. She can hear Amy's angry voice, but she's not in the right mental state to care about what she's saying. All she can hear is the word echoing in her head… _bald… bald… bald… bald… __**BALD…!**_

She tries to fight it, but she's not strong enough to stop the creation of tears to begin. She's not strong enough to fight them from showing, from falling. She's not strong enough to keep John's laughter out of her mind, out of her head… from breaking her spirit. She's not strong enough to fight for herself. She's not strong enough to silence this jerk. She's not strong enough to do anything about this… she's not strong enough to do anything… she can't do anything, she's not good for anything… there's nothing she can do… nothing… nothing… _nothing… nothing…_ _**nothing…**_

"_What is going on here?!_" A loud barking voice cuts through the air as the coach arrives.

Looking up from the ground, Katelyn can clearly see, despite her tears, that Nat is standing next to him, looking just slightly out of breath. _He must've run to get him before something happened or got out of hand._ That thought merely brings even more tears to her eyes… and she's not sure what the reason is.

The sound of more running heading their way can soon be heard as the coach yells at John and the other jocks he was with – mainly John though – and soon Lisa and an older lady appears from behind a corner. It must be the school nurse. Without stopping or hesitating, Lisa runs up to Katelyn to gently drag her away from John and the coach so that the nurse can have a look at her. Lisa gently takes her wrist in her hands and shows the blood for the nurse who seems to pale a little at the sight. Other than that, she tries to remain calm and professional as she attempts to check Katelyn to see if she's injured anywhere else. With the situation of the coach yelling at one of his football players and from what Lisa has told her, the nurse lifts Katelyn's shirt without saying anything – catching everyone off guard as Katelyn's belly is on full display. While everyone seems to be taken back by the amount of bruises, Katelyn is suffering a slight heart attack as her bra is merely inches away from being on display as well… _there is literally no need to make this all even more awkward than it already is._

Once the coach turns around and spots the bruises on her belly, he might as well have suffered an aneurysm. His shaved head turns so red that Katelyn actually begins to worry about his blood pressure. He then turns back towards John and the other jocks, points at Katelyn and literally yells the loudest a man has ever yelled – _that she know of._

"_HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THAT THEN?!_" Oh yeah… _he mad…_ casting a slight look over to them, she can clearly see the look on the jocks' faces as they too see the bruises they've caused. _Caught red handed, eh?_ None of them are saying anything, which isn't really surprising, and that is causing the coach to get even angrier at them, which is also not really surprising.

"Let's go back to the restroom." The school nurse says while gently leading Katelyn and Lisa towards the men's restroom. "There's better light in there, and you need to wash that blood off before it dries in." _YES PLEASE!_

The sound of a very angry coach is all they can hear as they head towards the men's, and once they're inside and closes the door, they can still hear him – just a little muffled. As soon as she sees the sinks she rushes over to them to wash the filth away, letting a slight breath out as she watches the blood flow down the drain. Once her hands are dry the nurse steps closer to have a better look at her overall. She looks at the bruises again, slightly touches and pokes here and there – getting signs of pain from doing so, which only leads them on to believing the theory of her having internal bleedings… which, actually, now that I think about it… is not that incorrect… it's just that this kind is natural and kind of needs to happen. _Kind of._

Humming at her discoveries, she pulls the shirt back down and looks at Katelyn overall once more. She can see the lines that were created from just a moment before, when John held her up with her shirt and nearly strangled her, but other than that, she can't really see anything. All that is, is a sign that the bullies targets areas on the body that's covered by clothing, so that the signs of their torment will not be seen. How long have they been doing this for to work out this kind of strategy? She shakes her head at that thought and looks back towards Katelyn.

"Kevin." She says, doing what she can to hide the ever growing worry in her. "You need to go to the hospital."

"But-!"

"I told you Kevin." Amy's voice sound as she reenters the men's restroom to see how things are going. "You need to see a doctor!"

"B-but I'm fine!"

"Young man." The school nurse say. "You are many things, but right now, 'fine' is not one of them."

"I swear I'm-"

"You are covered in bruises, Kevin." The nurse interrupts her. "Bruises of different ages, which means this is something that has happened before, not to mention the fact that you may be suffering internal damage! This is enough to make me go to the decision of getting an ambulance here to take you to the hospital for examination." She then turns towards Amy who seems to be in chock. "Young lady, would you please keep Kevin company while I contact the hospital? Make sure that he doesn't try and sneak away?"

Seeming a little caught off guard, Amy's eyes remain large and filled with chock. "Y-yes… I-I will."

"Good. Then let's go back to my office!"

And with that, they're on their way to the nurse's office. As they exit the men's restroom they get a clear shot of the show outside. The coach has apparently contacted the school's principle who is currently shouting something at the jocks. As soon as the coach sees the door open and sees them leave the restroom, he informs the principle and soon enough they're both looking their way. It seems like the principle wants to say something, but when he notice the nurse hurry away to her office, while Kevin is being dragged away after her by a brunette girl, he holds his tongue for later and returns to lecture the jocks in front of him.

Feeling eyes burning in her skin from everywhere, Katelyn tries her best to shrink in her own clothes. It slightly dawns on her that she is still currently hatless, meaning her bare head is on show for everyone to see, and she shrinks in her clothes for real. Amy doesn't seem to notice as her pace doesn't slow or speed up, and soon they're standing at the door to the nurse's office, where she's currently on the phone with someone from the hospital.

"Here, Kevin." Amy says with such a soft and careful voice as she carefully drags Katelyn into to the office and towards the cot. "Sit." And she does. She sits down and kills the sigh that threatens to escape her, though nobody notice it.

She watches the nurse as she talks with whomever from the hospital on the phone, and then she looks over towards Amy who refuses to let Katelyn out of her sight, no matter what. The nurse doesn't notice her weak stare, naturally, but Amy does and seems to be taking it as an invitation to ask as many questions as possibly. Closing her eyes and placing her arms across her abdomen as the pain again starts pulsating, she blocks out all of the questions Amy throws at her, no matter how gentle and careful she tries to be. Hearing the slight commotion behind her, the nurse turns around in her seat and sees Katelyn in the weak, hurting position and immediately turns back to talking to the person on the phone, making sure they understand how serious this situation is.

Soon enough, an ambulance is on the way, and Katelyn counts the seconds before her doom.

* * *

_GAAAAH! THIS CHAPTER JUST DIDN'T WANT TO EEEEEEEND! _

_I really do hope you will like it nonetheless. Please let me know what you think in the reviews and I'll be back as soon as possible with the next chapter. _

_Have a good day!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Super sorry for the delay! There's been a lot going on – I've got a new job and I'm still getting used to the feeling of being a newbie… I don't like it! But I need the money… that's life for you. Anyway, this chapter has also been just a big pain in my lower regions, and I'm so happy that it's finally over with! I actually never planned on bringing in my very own "OC" – Amy – but it somehow happened, and now here we are. Do not threat, all of you who hate when people put their own characters in a story, for I am actually one of you. Amy will not be a big part of this story (she wasn't supposed to be a part of it at all) and after this chapter I see no current future use for her as I am going to bring in Nazz someday – and Rave, because you just can't have a story with Nathan and not have Rave as well – but that's for another day. _

_With this being said; Please, enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 5**

_Long Story Short_

The ride to the hospital was long and painful, for more than one reason. Once they finally made their way in to the emergency and got her a room the personnel who drove them there vanished and in came the nurses to take care of them. Yes, _them_. Amy had insisted on going with her, for whatever reason. It might've been for the school's nurse who told her to "keep an eye on Kevin", or something. Maybe she's feeling guilty for what her ex-boyfriend did to her. She honestly has no idea, and right now, she also doesn't care. All she wants is to go home, though she has a feeling that won't happen any time soon. Her mother has been informed that she's at the hospital and that she has a "friend" with her and from what she's been told her mother is doing what she can to get out of work to come and be with her. No one is saying anything about her father or whether he's been informed of the situation or not, but she has a slight feeling that her mother is to blame for that.

Amy has been sitting in a chair next to her cot for almost one hour. As nurses and even a doctor have come to check on "Kevin", she's been falling into the background as if to give them room to do their jobs. They all reacted strongly to the bruises and checked first and foremost if some of "the boy's" ribs where broken and they're currently waiting for the x-rays to be done. However, after poking and prodding carefully, they said that from what they can feel, it doesn't seem like there are any broken bones that has caused the bleeding. '_No kidding', _was all she could think at that statement, however it seems like it might've calmed Amy down one notch, seeing how she literally let a deep breath out with her hand over her chest. Other than that, the rest of the time went on slowly and was more torturing than the fists her bullies give her. After all, that's a kind of pain she's gotten used to – much like the chemo treatment; you learn to live with it – while this situation is something so brand new and weird that she might never really get used to it, no matter how many times she'll be forced to face it. She kills a sigh at the thought.

They eventually reach the one hour mark and Amy starts getting restless, if her kicking her feet isn't an indication enough. Katelyn watches her carefully, trying not to get her attention in hopes that she won't try and start an awkward conversation. But then again, with all the commotion that's been going on and with all the nurses that's been running in and out of their room, they've hardly spoken at all. Twisting her lips a little she decides to give it a try. Maybe it won't be so awkward?

"Hey." She says carefully, catching Amy's attention. She almost seems a little surprised to hear her voice. "Are you ok?"

Amy's brown eyes grow slightly bigger at the question, but she's not sure why. "I'm fine, Kevin." She says if a little hesitant. "Don't worry about me. You're the one who's been hospitalized. Not me." Her eyes remain on Katelyn, causing the basically bald ginger with cracked glasses to let a small sigh out.

"But I'm also the one who's used to it." She says. "You don't have to be here with me. If you want to go home, then you can. It's fine." Amy's eyes turn somewhat sad after she said that… maybe it wasn't the best way to let her know that she's fine with being here by herself.

"I'm not leaving!" Amy says with a voice filled with determination. Katelyn watches her for a short moment, taking in her determination, but also the fact that her feet are still kicking ever so slightly. She's still restless. Does she happen to have restless legs as well?

"Okay." She says with a small voice. "But maybe you should go for a small walk. You seem to be a little restless." Trying not to be rude, she carefully points at Amy's feet. The action seem to cause a slight blush appear on Amy's cheeks.

"W-well…"

"I'm not going anywhere Amy. If you need to walk around a little, it's ok. I understand. I have restless legs to. See?" As if to make her point more clear, she points with her gaze at her own feet, kicking them ever so slightly for the other girl to see.

Something seems to click a little in Amy's mind as she looks at Katelyn. Noticing this, Katelyn tries to smile as sweetly as possible, hoping to prove her statement even more. It takes a small moment before Amy is convinced and stands up from her seat in the chair – that actually seems to be rather uncomfortable – and starts taking a few hesitant steps towards the door before she turns around.

"I'll be back soon!" She says, or maybe even promises.

"Okay." Katelyn says and turns to look at the chair again. "And when you do, maybe try and sit somewhere more comfortable? That should help some, I think…" She turns back towards Amy just in time to see one of the most genuine smiles she's ever seen.

"You're too sweet, you." She says quietly, her smile growing even bigger… all while Katelyn nearly chokes on air.

"H-hardly!" She coughs out. "You-you have n-no idea!"

Amy just laughs at her silliness and then heads out the door to go for a small walk. Now she's all alone. _Thank goodness…_ Falling back on the cot, she hides her eyes with the palms of her hands while trying to think of some sort of a plan. Once the x-rays will be done and looked at it will be a known fact that she's not suffered any broken bones… and then what? What will they do next to figure out where all this "mysterious bleeding" is coming from? Maybe if one of the nurses comes in while Amy is away on her walk, then maybe she can just carefully let it be known that she's fine – just on her period – so that they can get back to school and carry on with their day. Maybe. Hopefully.

It doesn't take very long for Amy to return, however, she does return with her hands full of stuff from the small kiosk at the main entrance of the hospital, so she did go a bit further than Katelyn first thought she would. She places the items on the small table on wheels next to the hospital bed and checks to see if there might be something missing. Whatever that would be, Katelyn has no idea. She didn't even know about her going shopping in the first place. Not that she minds, she is getting a little hungry, what from eating nearly nothing at lunch. Once the items are standing organized on the small portable table, Amy stands up straight and looks around the small room before walking in a direction. It takes a moment for Katelyn to understand where she's going, but once she returns with an armchair it slowly clicks in her mind. She did tell her to find a more comfortable seat once she got back from her little walk, and though it seems like it might be a little tougher than she first thought, Amy doesn't seem to be bothered as she keeps tugging the armchair closer to the cot where Katelyn is laying. Once she's satisfied with its new location, she turns around and has a seat.

"You know…" She says, starting small as she draws Katelyn's attention. "…you were right."

Katelyn looks at her, a small question mark on her forehead. "About what?" She asks.

"That going for a walk would help."

Amy shoots her a big smile and leans back further into the armchair. Yeah, that definitely seems to be much more comfortable than the old plastic chair she was sitting on before. With a smile on her own face, Katelyn turns towards the portable hospital table with all of the different items on it. There's sodas, some candy bars, two bananas and two apples – one each presumably – and some handkerchiefs. With her hunger still slightly around and growing, she reaches out and grabs the bananas for them to eat. She turns towards Amy who seems to be way more comfortable in the armchair than the other one, and reaches one of the bananas towards her.

"You want a banana?" She asks, waking Amy up from her slight slumber.

"Yes, thank you!"

The two of them eat in pleasant silence and once they're done with the bananas they move on to the candy bars. When they're about to start with the sodas Katelyn grabs the table and carefully starts to move it around the cot, as Amy accidentally made so that she placed the armchair on the opposite side of the table. She even says sorry for it, but it's nothing to be worried about, as Katelyn says.

After a moment though, Amy gets up from her seat and starts searching for a plastic bag to throw their trash away, seeing how she didn't get one from the lady in the kiosk. She had said something about plastic being bad for the environment and that Amy was a young lady with no noticeable health issues, meaning she could easily carry the items without a bag. As well as her point may have been, she could've tried not to be rude about it. Also, now they're in this slight situation with them not being able to throw away their trash. Katelyn can hear how Amy imitates the kiosk lady as she walks into the restroom to snatch a bag from in there, and she has to be honest, it's pretty darn funny hearing her pull off that old nanny voice. She tries her best to hold her giggles in as she currently took a big gulp of soda just as Amy started doing that voice. When Amy comes back from the restroom she has a bag in hand that she snitched from the small trash bag by the sink, and as soon as she reaches the table she starts collecting their trash in it before placing it under the table. Not on the floor, but under the table, where it's a small area to store things, right by the wheels.

Reaching the one and a half hour mark, they start talking about a little bit of everything. Amy is apparently very interested in hearing about "Kevin's" hospital life, and thus it's the one topic they always return to whenever they side rant. Katelyn doesn't hold back on any information – except from her being a girl – from that time and starts by mentioning her fear of dying once she was diagnosed, the moment she started losing her hair, the different kinds of scans/x-rays she had to go through and all of the different tests in general. All in all, she tells her about everything, and Amy never interrupts her unless she has a question or just wants to show her support. She keeps listening closely as Katelyn starts talking about how she met her two dearest friends, Nazz and Rave. About halfway through her treatment, a blond girl named Nazz was hospitalized due to tuberculosis that she's still fighting from what she knows. The two of them met when Katelyn was moved to the Infection department as she had managed to catch the flu during her treatment, and they were placed in the neighboring rooms, across the hallway from one another, which allowed them to communicate/gesture at each other through the windows. Once she had overcome the flu she was sent back to her old department, but was placed in a new room with a new roommate; Rave. The boy had been closed off for a long time, keeping to himself, and it didn't take long for Katelyn to realize he was there for a gruesome attempted suicide. The news had left her heartbroken, and she even stayed up at night to make sure he wouldn't try and do anything in the dead of night. Once he had found her out – waking up from a bad dream or something – he had asked her why she cared so much to which she had answered; I don't want you to die. It was a short answer, and might actually have been a bit selfish on her side, but it seemed to be what he needed, for after that, he had slowly started to open up to her, and eventually to his psychiatrist. It took a while, but he eventually got better, and though he was to be placed in a different department, he didn't want to be placed with a new roommate, so the hospital allowed him to stay where he was until he was stable enough to go home. He would always come and visit her though, making sure she was okay and that she knew she was appreciated.

Pausing in her storytelling, Katelyn allows herself to drift away in thought. She hasn't really heard anything from those two since she moved. She hopes they're okay. Rave did tell her that he would continue visiting Nazz until she got better and then they would visit her in her new home. She really hopes they do. Better yet, she'll try and contact them once she's home and see how things are with them. She knew she would miss them, and she knows that she is missing them… it just didn't dawn on her until now just how much…

"Kevin?"

Shaking her head slightly, she returns to the real world to find Amy looking at her with worry written on her face. She must've noticed that she started to drift away in thoughts, and apparently she allowed her to do so for a while until she apparently started to appear sad. At least, that's what her facial expression is telling her.

"Yeah?" She tries to sound as happy as she tries to appear, but it doesn't seem to work.

"Are you okay? You seem almost sad..." Her voice is quiet. "…Do you miss your friends?"

A sad chuckle escapes her before she's able to stop it. "Yeah… I do…" She lets out a deep breath before she continues. "I mean… I always knew that I would miss them, when I found out we were moving here, to Peach Creek… and I know that I am missing them… it just… it just dawned on me just _how much_ I really am missing them."

Amy remains silent. It's almost like she's allowing her to think and just breathe, which is very much appreciated. Katelyn smiles at her as she tries to tame her feelings that are basically going haywire at the moment since – you know – she's on her period for the first time in almost two years.

The small moment between them are brutally interrupted as the door to their small room is forced open by a middle aged woman who Katelyn recognizes as her mother. _Hello panic, we've been expecting you. _The woman's eyes land on Katelyn, big and wide, filled with fear and panic and… something else that Katelyn can't quite name. It doesn't take very long before the woman rushes in and throws herself at Katelyn, pulling her into a painful hug.

"…hey mom…" Katelyn says with a tight voice, as she finds it very hard to breathe while in her mother's grip.

Sensing her daughter's distress, Mrs. Barr pulls away from her carefully, as if she's afraid to frighten Katelyn. They look each other in the eyes for a moment before Katelyn notice there's a nurse standing by the door. She must've showed her mother where she was. Then she notices the look on Amy's face – a pretty warm smile that does nothing to calm her nerves.

A hand is placed on her cheek and she looks back at her mother, catching her examining her, as if she feels the need to check if the doctors missed anything only a mother would notice. She carefully turns her head left and right, making sure her soft grip on her cheek and jaw remains that; soft. Everything is quiet as her mother checks over the damage done to her daughter's face – which isn't any, since her face wasn't targeted – before going down her throat and then carefully underneath her shirt. Feeling a slight blush appear on her face as her mother grabs the top of her shirt and pulls on it to allow herself a decent view of her daughter's torso, she takes a moment to be grateful that neither Amy nor the nurse are able to see her bra from where they are.

Once her mom is done and satisfied with her little examination, she turns from her daughter and towards the nurse with a serious look.

"What happened?" Her voice is sudden and slightly sharper than anyone expected, which causes both the nurse and Amy to jump slightly before the nurse begins answering.

"You will have to ask your son's principle about that." The nurse says with a calm voice. "However, when it comes to the damage that's been done to him, we can assure you that they're not as severe as we first thought them to be. There are no broken bones, no punctured organs or anything of the sort." Her mother lets out a deep and loud breath at the information of no broken bones. "Now, we've gone over his medical history and found that he's been through a cancer treatment for almost two years, correct?"

"A little more than one year and a half, yes." Her mother answers and it just now dawns on Katelyn that not only did the nurse reference her as '_him'_ without her mother reacting to it, but there shouldn't be any medical record of a boy named Kevin Barr that's been through the same treatment as her at that very hospital – that means they must've found her actual records, and along with that, her actual name; _Katelyn_… and yet…

The nurse then turns towards Amy with a friendly smile. "My dear, would it be alright for you to wait in the hall?" She asks with a sweet and kind voice. "We need to discuss matters only meant for the closest relatives."

"Oh!" Amy immediately stands up from her seat and heads towards the door, but not before patting "Kevin" on the shoulder to show her support and smiling sweetly at his mother. Once she's out of the room and the door has finally closed, the nurse turns towards the two Barr's with a bit more serious expression on her face, and it doesn't take very long before Katelyn can feel the same kind of stare coming from her mother… _yeah… they know…_

"Katelyn?" Her mother's voice sounds tired and desperate. "What is going on? The school called me and told me that my _son_, _Kevin_, had been abused by some of the other students and that _he_ was on the way to the hospital due to internal bleeding."

"Which has been diagnosed as menstruation." The nurse ads with the same calm voice. "And although we are happy to have reached that conclusion, we need to understand why this situation has occurred."

The way they're both looking at her with eager ears and expected expressions on their faces, it's making her guts twist with guilt which in the end makes her feel like she's going to be ill. She can't speak. She can't talk! What is she supposed to say?! "_Yeah, my very first teacher mistook me for a boy and started to call me Kevin which the rest of the school picked up before I knew what was happening. I was going to tell you about it, but by the end of the day it just felt weird to bring something like that up and have it corrected after I allowed it to go on for as long as I had, so I just decided to let it be and hope for the best._" Lowering her head, she holds it with her hands as her elbows rest on her knees, while letting a sigh escape her. In truth, she never asked for any of this, but in the same time, she never did anything about it, to fix it.

Seeing how they're not going to get anything out of her, Mrs. Barr places a hand on her daughter's shoulder, hoping to grab her attention, but it seems to either go unnoticed, or ignored. She kills a sigh before she starts talking to her.

"Katelyn… do you have any idea how worried I was when I heard that you were going to the hospital, that you had been abused to the point that you had internal bleeding? And so soon after your treatment! Katelyn, I was worried sick! And confused… confused as to why everyone kept referring to my daughter as a boy, as Kevin, and not knowing why."

"Is that why you made sure dad isn't here?"

Mrs. Barr looks at her daughter in surprise, chock and worry. She has always known her daughter is smarter than average, and that is something she's very proud of… but at times like this, it can be quite troubling. Of course she noticed that her father isn't here, but to draw the conclusion – correct or not – that she's the one behind it…

The sigh that she killed just before comes back and escapes her before she can do anything about it. It serves as an answer and confirmation that Katelyn's conclusion was indeed correct. Her eyes carefully scan her mother's face as she carefully looks up from her hands. She's always known her parents' marriage wasn't a happy one… it's just weird to see how that affects the different choices they make, how they can willingly leave one another out of a serious matter without even a second thought. It's true that she's not in the position to judge or come with any statement about it, and it's also true that she never wants to be in that position.

"Katelyn…"

"It's okay mom. I understand."

Mrs. Barr looks at her daughter with worry and disbelief. "Do you?"

"No…" Katelyn says quietly, before perking up in her spot on the cot. "But that's okay, because neither will you once I try and tell you about what's going on at school! Like, _at all! _You won't understand when I tell you that after you left that old lady mistook me for a boy and started calling me Kevin instead of Katelyn in front of the whole classroom before I managed to understand what was happening, or how to stop it. You won't understand when I tell you that now that it's been so freaking long since it all started, I kind of fail to see the point in doing anything to fix it all! And you _definitely_ won't understand when I tell you that whatever I might be going through right now, will get so much _freaking worse_ if everyone where to find out at this stage!" Her breathing is heavy as her anger is working itself up from nothing to everything. "Tell me mom! _Do you understand?!_"

As expected, her mother doesn't say anything. Neither is the nurse. Her mother is wearing the usual expression of "not impressed" as she's currently going over the information that her daughter has just thrown at her in a childish manner. Once she's done and fairly understands what her daughter has told her, she collects her thoughts to answer her.

"No." She says. "I don't understand. But that doesn't give you the right to yell at me."

Staring her mother straight in the eyes, Katelyn tries with everything she has to see if there is even the smallest, slightest of hint that she _wants_ to understand the situation her daughter is in. When she reaches the conclusion that there is none to be found, she heaves a sigh and falls back in the cot, surrendering, giving up. She can hear her mother let out a sigh of her own before getting up from her place at the cot and walking away. Voices are whispering at the other side of the room. She must've gone off to talk with the nurse to get some help in what to do since her daughter is "acting like a child again". Feeling the tears threatening to surface, she rolls over to the side, facing the window and with her back towards the two women. Staring out at the small yard for the older patients, she allows her mind to calm down as she watches a couple of birds sitting in a tree, chirping at one another. How peaceful the life of a bird seems. No school, no job, no money, no taxes… just… sitting in a bush, munching on the things you find without having to pay for it. It's just there for you to take, all the while you're surrounded by company. Who knows who they are or if you've met them before? That's not important. As long as they're not trying to eat you everything is alright. Strangers or not, it's still alright.

_Man, I wish I could be a bird instead…_

"Katelyn?" Her mother's voice calls out, claiming her daughter's attention once again, forcing her to sit back up to look at her before she continues talking. "I'm going to go and sign some documents and then we can go home."

She just nods and watches as her mother and the nurse heads out the door. It swings open as they leave through it, and it's just about to fall back to close when a hand catches it. A stone starts forming in her guts as Amy carefully enters the room once again, curiosity written all over her face. She doesn't say anything immediately however, which is nice. Maybe she can see the beyond-not-happy expression on "Kevin's" face?

Her steps are small and careful, as if she's walking on eggshells that aren't there, but she doesn't know it. It brings a small smile to her face, but it dies pretty soon when she thinks back to her mom, her dad… what is she going to do now?

"K-Kevin?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" Amy carefully sits down at the end of the cot, right by her feet. "You look like… well… you don't look good."

"Well, I guess I feel like what I look like."

"What did they say?"

_Getting bolder with your questions, eh?_ "Long story short… nothing new."

* * *

_Oooooh boy… finally it's over! It is over. Thank you for reading and let me know what you think about this story so far. Don't be shy with reviews as I kind of need them at this moment – I really don't like begging for them, but I kind of feel desperate after this chapter. This is not how I pictured this hospital moment to go like, but after attempting the first and actually planned version I realized there would've been too many flaws in it to actually make any sense, so here we are. It's done with, finally, and I can finally move on to work on the next one – that being Eddward's P.O.V. and I can't wait! I have to though, I'm working today. _

_Anyway, thanks for reading! Have a good day!_


	6. Chapter 6

_A slight hiccup in the last chapter's Author's Note: I meant to say; 'Do not FRET', not __**threat**__, when I tried to explain my thoughts about Amy, but my laptop decided to play a little prank on me, I guess, and it autocorrected on me without me noticing until after I uploaded the chapter. Welp. _

_I do still hope you're enjoying this story so far. Let me know what you think if you want to leave a review. No need for it, but it does make my day when I see someone leaving their opinion. Anyway – Please, enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 6**

_Mashed Pumpkin is Mad Pumpkin_

Eddward is back at school after being absent for three days, minus the weekend before. He's actually been sick this time, so much that his mother made him stay home, so it's not like he just decided to skip out on school. _Honestly_. A smirk had appeared on his face at the thought of Kevin's face as he tries to explain that this time he didn't miss out on school on purpose, that he actually had to due to illness. It hasn't happened since Kevin started at their school, so who's to say how the little ginger – the little pumpkin – will react to those news.

The smirk however left as soon as he entered the school's main entrance. The halls are silent, way more so than usual. The students are moving as if they're halfway in slow-motion, and when they finally notice his presence, they freeze completely.

_Something isn't right…_

A frown now dawns on his face as all the remains of the previous smirk melts away. No one is looking at him, at least not intentionally like before. As soon as a student notice him in their field of view they turn away immediately, as if they're afraid he's going to jump on them just like that, for no reason. The frown grows deeper as he begins to feel that some actually _are_ looking at him directly on purpose, but as soon as he turns his head their way they look away in panic, fear. A slight twitch in his eyebrow can be seen as he straightens himself before walking further into the school, to his locker. He never truly uses his locker as he never truly does go to his classes, but it has started to become a bigger part of his routine since Kevin showed up. In fact, he used it every day the week he was to show Kevin around school, but that was because they shared basically every single class then, as for right now, Eddward has no use for going to class unless there's a test.

The locker opens up with a slight screech that echo down the silent hallway. Whispers can be heard through the hall, but it's impossible for him to hear what they're saying or what they're talking about. They're all looking at him but turn away when they notice him looking back.

That might be the biggest difference of them all actually… the fact that they're not staring or glaring at him in hate or judgment, they're just looking at him carefully, observing him, as if they're waiting to see what will happen. But why? What are they expecting to happen, and why is it relevant to him? Did something happen when he was absent? Did someone start a rumor about him? It wouldn't be the first time, but even then it never affected anyone to the point of looking at him expectantly like this. It makes him feel sick all over again, his guts twisting from the abnormal behavior of his fellow "schoolmates", as they're called. Biting the inside of his cheek, he quickly grabs his advanced calculus book and closes the locker with a swing before heading towards the library for some peace and… well, the hallways are silent, but they're not quiet, like the library, and that's all he wants at this moment.

As always, the librarian gives him one of her regular looks when he opens the door and lets himself in, so there's still some normality in the world at least. That makes him feel a little better. Whatever has happened to his schoolmates hasn't affected the school's staff – from what he knows.

He keeps on his tread towards his favorite corner in the maze of bookshelves and soon finds himself sitting in his favorite chair at the right table. With the calculus book in hand, he starts studying immediately. Just because he doesn't attend the classes doesn't mean he doesn't take learning serious – there's a reason why his grades are the best even though his attendance record might be of the worst. He is a genius, a genius who doesn't want to be spending his days in a small classroom where chaos thrive and undoubtedly disrupts the whole "teaching" part and turns it into "raising". No, he'd much rather be here, in the peace and quiet, or at home where he has access to different classes from a numerous amount of colleges that are being held online. Like I said; there's a reason why his grades are _the best_.

The bell rings, signaling that the first period is over and done and that the students have about ten minutes to get to the next one. With that thought in mind, Eddward pulls out his phone to double-check the day – Thursday. Kevin always has study hall the second period on Thursdays and he's made it a habit to come to the library to "study" with Eddward. It mostly ends up with them reading books – Eddward always reads something educational, while Kevin enjoys ordinary novels – in peace and quiet, and in the company of each other. However, when it actually does happen that Kevin needs help studying, he's always eager to hear what Eddward has to say about the study material, what he does when he studies and what tricks he has to help you remember a lot of brand new information that just won't doesn't want to be remembered. And when Eddward does answer, Kevin allows him to speak, doesn't interrupt – he might ask questions that appear out of nowhere, but he always apologizes before interrupting. It brings a smile to his face, to see someone else eager to learn and to study, and even if he might not be as good at it as Eddward is, Kevin is still really determined to do well in school and to get good grades.

Once again the bell rings, signaling that the second period has started – all students that are in the hallways still are now officially late. Looking up from his textbook, it is obvious to Eddward that Kevin has yet to show up. He puts the book down and looks up, searching the corner he's in for any signs that his little ginger comrade is on his way. There's nothing. No indication that Kevin is coming, no sign that anyone for the matter is on their way. A knot is slowly starting to form in his guts. He knows that Kevin is being bullied _(especially when Eddward is absent)_… and if Kevin is late – which is out of the ordinary for the ginger nerd – that could mean… The librarian looks up at him with great surprise written all over her face as she sees him nearly storm out of the library. He pays her no mind. There are more important matters to attend to.

At first, he tries to act calm and collected – not suspicious of some foul play – hoping it will allow him to notice some sort of hint as to where Kevin could potentially have been dragged away to. Most of the students are in class, but there are some who has study hall and who are simply mingling in the hallways… still looking at him.

His heels hit the floor hard as he steadily begins walking faster through the school. So far there hasn't been a single sign to help him figure out where Kevin might be, and that doesn't bode well. The more time it takes him to find him, the more time the bullies – _the hooligans_ – have to torment him… if that's even all they're planning to do to him. With that thought in mind, he keeps moving. Eventually, the second period is over and the halls again. Eddward finds himself in the library once again as the thought did occur to him that maybe Kevin was just late and that he had entered the library after Eddward had taken off. But as the raven genius came back to the library it didn't take him very long to understand that Kevin hadn't showed up. As the third period rings in to start, Eddward once again roams the hallways, hoping to do a better job in finding his friend this time around. He walks all over the different hallways he can think of, even going as far as walking down the one that leads to the natatorium and then the school gym. But even there he doesn't find anything, not even in the locker rooms. He had gotten some weird looks by some students that were slacking in there, hiding from the coach, but no one said anything to him, as they never do.

Third period ends, and Eddward has reduced to leaning against Kevin's locker in the hallway. Surely by Christ, the ginger has to stop by his locker in order to get prepared for lunch. Pulling out his phone for the umpteenth time today, he berates himself one more time for not having gotten Kevin's number yet. That will be one of the first things he'll fix as soon as he finds the small ginger – right after killing the foes that "messed" with him.

As the hallways starts to fill up with students, Eddward makes sure to search the crowd of familiar-yet-unfamiliar faces, hoping to find the one he's looking for, and keep ignoring the still abnormal looks said faces are giving him. It would almost seem that they keep getting more and more intent on watching him, to see what he'll do… _especially now that he's waiting by Kevin's locker…_

A heavy feeling slowly but surely begins growing in his guts the more he thinks about it. _Did something happen to Kevin while he was absent?_ The heavy feeling turns into a knot that pulls on his guts, forcing him to stand taller than the rest, but not from pride, no, but from worry and the fact that he's almost taller than everyone there, meaning standing straight will allow him to see better over the ocean of heads. His actions does not go by unnoticed by the few students that are somewhat close to him, and they immediately begin to fidget, doing what they can to get as far away from the genius swimmer as soon as possible. Noticing this, Eddward feels the knot of worry begin to unfold into anger. They know what happened, and yet no one steps up to tell _him_ what happened. Why is that? Are they afraid that he's going to beat them up for telling him what happened? Unless you're the foe in the drama he couldn't care less.

He ends up staying by Kevin's locker until the lunch bell rings for the fourth period, telling everyone that lunch has started. As the students begin on their way to get something to eat, Eddward feels how his appetite is faltering and fading. It's been a while since he's felt like this: worried for another person that's not his mother. It's a feeling that's demanding a certain amount of energy that he's not sure he has at the moment. He takes a deep breath and tries to think about the situation from a logical perspective.

Kevin lives across the street from him. Unless he's gotten kidnapped or died, he should be in his home after school, meaning that Eddward will have an opportunity to talk to him and get some information from him, checking if something truly has happened. That is of course, unless someone decides to step up and actually tell him what's going on and where Kevin is. But given the way everyone is merely looking at him and avoiding him – more so than usual, and by fear instead of disgust – he has a feeling no one is about to tell him anything.

"_Double Delicious!_"

Freezing in his place with his eyes growing wide, Eddward can't help the face palm that's caused by mere reflexes. Of course _that person_ would show up now of all times to get some "flirting" in just to cause him misery. His groan grows louder as he realizes that not only is Nathan standing somewhere close to him, he's standing right in front of him, demanding all of his attention to the max.

"Where have you been, cutie? I've been looking everywhere for your pretty bottom." Nathan smiles and winks at him, completely ignoring the obvious discomfort the other is displaying.

Letting out a frustrated groan, Eddward forces himself to answer. "Salutations, _Nathan_. You're just as obnoxious as always, I see."

"Oh, sweetie!" Nathan says with an ocean of unnecessary drama in his voice. "You know how much it hurts me to hear you say my full name! It's almost like you don't love me!"

"What do you want, Goldberg?" Eddward asks, ignoring the pleading with an eye roll to show the other just how little he cares. Unfortunately for him, it only serves to spur him on more.

"You're using my last name?!" Nathan gasps loudly. "My goodness, Double Delicious, what have I done to upset you so?!" In a dramatic act, Nathan places his arms on Eddward's shoulder, to keep him in place while he leans closer. "Tell me, darling! What have I done to cause such a frown upon your face? What can I do to make it up to you, my love?"

As a response to his question, Eddward grabs the front of Nathan's shirt and pushes him off of him. It causes Nathan to stumble a little as he's flung backwards, but since he's the captain of the football team, he manages to find his balance rather soon – in other words; Eddward should've shoved him harsher. A sad realization to make indeed as Nathan is soon in his face again, although not as close as he was before. The smile of his is still intact, though a little more careful, which is something that's not common of the football captain unless he's facing a serious situation first hand or has something important to say – like actually important, not flirty butt stuff.

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist it when you were looking so incredibly upset and worried." Nathan says with the careful smile glued on his face.

"Ah! So you _do_ find enjoyment in tormenting people?" Eddward says with a bit of a knowing tone.

"Nah, not tormenting." Nathan says. "It's just a little light teasing."

"Light?" Eddward says, unable to control the almost surprised expression on his face. "Something tells me we have a very different perspective on that word."

"Yeah, I've noticed." Nathan laughs at his comment, but soon the laughter turns into chuckles, and then the chuckles dies out and a heavy mood sets over the normally energetic teen. "I wasn't lying though. I have been looking all over the place for you. Where have you been?"

"I've been ill." Eddward says, feeling his interest slightly peak at the serious tone that Nathan is beginning to portray. "Now, do us both a favor and speak your mind. It is clear to me that you have something of importance to say."

A surprised expression shows up on Nathan's face for a short moment before he turns more serious again. "Yeah, okay. So, something happened when you weren't here, as you might've noticed."

"Yes." Eddward says as he eyes a few students walking by and looking at him with the same gaze everyone has given him this day.

"Right… and, well you've noticed that Kevin isn't here."

"Yes." Eddward says again, feeling his patience beginning to wither. "Get to the point already. What is it that everyone clearly knows but refuses to tell me?"

"Hey, they're just afraid man. You don't exactly handle bad news well."

"According to who?"

"Your records?" Nathan tries to play in a little bit of his usual self, but as it doesn't settle well with the raven teen, he stops and keeps talking. "Sorry. But yeah, something bad happened to Kevin when you weren't here, and to answer your unasked questions, yes, it most likely wouldn't have happened if you were here, and no, it's impossible for it to have been your fault."

"How kind of you to say so. Now what happened?"

"I don't have the full story, but I was there and saw most of it." Nathan says and takes a deep breath, obviously preparing himself. "Kevin got beat up badly. Like, seriously badly. Having to go to the hospital bad."

The knot of worry forms once more, cementing Eddward to the spot as Nathan keeps telling him about what happened to his little ginger friend, and why he hasn't seen him today – because he's not even at school. He tells him about some jocks and some girl named Amy, whoever that is, how one of the jocks had given Kevin a punch to his guts that had apparently caused him to start bleeding from the intestines. Eddward would almost call bull on that, but he remembers Kevin telling him about his long cancer treatment… and thus he doesn't dare say anything since he doesn't have enough of that sort of knowledge to understand whether that's something that's plausible to happen or not.

Nathan keeps telling him how the girl – Amy – went to the hospital with Kevin and stayed there till his mother came. That is basically all that the teal haired teen had to say about Kevin's reason for being absent for, who knows how long for, before he hands some of Kevin's homework to him.

"Since you live literally across the street from him, the teachers decided you'd be the one to give him his homework, but since you've also been absent, they decided that I would fill in for you until you decided to get back." Nathan says with a big smile before handing him something else… something red. "Oh, and I recently found this in the lost and found. I promised him to search for it and give it back to him as soon as I found it."

Eddward looks at the red cap in Nathan's hand for a moment before he takes the cap and observes it. The base of the cap is red, bright red, while the brim is black. It's old, a couple of years, and quite ugly. However it obviously holds a great amount of sentimental value to the small ginger, otherwise Eddward is fairly certain that Kevin would've just thrown it away and gotten himself a brand new one. The fact that he decided to wear it to cover up his balding head is evidence enough that this hat wears more value than he can understand.

Taking the hat and placing it upon the homework he's to deliver, Eddward ponders on the thought if Nathan would give him the name of the jock that sent Kevin to the hospital – along with the names of all the other jocks that obviously tortured him that day, but that jock more than the others. To give someone a blow to hospitalize them for no reason… Eddward is aware that he himself has sent a few people to the hospital, but he had had a reason for that! To help some poor soul from being sexually harassed or even raped had he not stepped in. But to harm someone who's smaller and weaker than yourself just because you enjoy doing it? That's not acceptable. When Eddward throws a punch it's to protect, to punish, to make a point clear as daylight and stand tall to those who dare cross the line. And right now, he can feel his fingers twitch and tickle with the thought of getting his hands on those jocks, to teach them a thing or two about what happens when you go after someone who Eddward sees as a friend, his only friend. True that he hasn't given them a "lesson" yet, even after learning that they are tormenting the little ginger nerd, however he thought that it didn't go any further than shoving, pushing back and forth, maybe forcing him to do their homework, duct taping him in one of the toilets or locking him in the janitor's closet… but to beat him up to the point where he's sent to the hospital? Is it really that bad for Kevin whenever Eddward doesn't show up at school? Why didn't Kevin say anything?

Nathan slightly raises one of his eyebrows as he sees Eddward face palm again, not being aware of the thoughts that soars around the other teen's head at the moment. Of course Kevin wouldn't say anything to him. He's not that kind of person! He's told him before how he doesn't enjoy having people care about him – how that was the worst thing about being at the hospital for his cancer. Not the treatments, but the concern others would show him whenever he was in pain, or for just being diagnosed with the illness. Letting out a loud sigh of disappointment for his own stupidity, Eddward lowers the hand and looks back up at Nathan, who he momentarily forgot was there. He looks at him for a moment before his brain reminds him of the idea of getting the names of the jocks.

"So…" He starts with a lighter tone, catching Nathan's attention even more. "…about the jocks that were, how would you say…? _Involved_ in the matter?"

Sensing where he's going with this, Nathan smiles back at him. "Suspended, and I'm pretty sure they're forced to pay some sort of fine to Kevin's family. I know John is at least, since he's the one who threw the hospitalizing punch."

Hearing the name fall from Nathan's lips is more than enough for Eddward to feel some sort of satisfaction. He's got the name of the one who sent Kevin to the hospital. Poor Nathan… even if he managed to catch on what Eddward was secretly asking of him, he couldn't help the little slip up as he talked about the punishment the jocks were given from their actions.

As if on cue, Nathan grows quiet. He obviously caught up to reality, understanding from Eddward's almost sadistic smile that he just gave the other teen the one piece of information he wanted, or rather needed, in order to pour even more gasoline on the fire.

"Look…" He says. "…I understand that you care about him, cuz' I do to. He's a good kid with a kind heart." Smiling mischievously, he continues. "And he's really cute to, _am I right?_"

With an instant, Eddward's smile is gone, and with an instant, Nathan is laughing his behind off. He really shouldn't have expected anything else from him. If anything, getting his expectations up for him was a waste of energy. Rolling his eyes at Nathan, who is still laughing at his reaction, Eddward adjusts his grip on Kevin's homework and cap and begins walking away from the other teen. Hearing Nathan call from behind him to tell Kevin he said 'hi', Eddward lazily raises one hand to signal he 'got the message', so to speak.

The school's schedule is still about halfway through the first lunch period, so there's still some looking on, or observing, as he heads on down the hallways. He doesn't bother thinking about it – now that he knows why he doesn't really feel the need to look back at any of them, like usual, especially when he's got something more important to do. He heads to his locker to drop off the homework and cap, and then heads onward to get something quick to eat before he heads over to the next class that's on Kevin's schedule. He did think about going over to Pumpkin's house right when he got the news from Nathan, but that would only mean that he would potentially only deliver about half of Kevin's homework from today, and that's no good. So, off to the classroom he goes. He's not really sure how Nathan had managed to get his hands on Kevin's homework up until now, but he knows for darn sure that he didn't like the thought of having some teacher running the halls searching for him. In that case, he'd much rather find the teacher first. And so, here he is: Sitting at a desk like a proper student, displaying his best behavior as he's waiting for the class to start. To say that the teacher was in chock over the sight is an understatement. It took the poor man about fifteen minutes to really get into the lesson. All the while, Eddward was sitting kindly at his seat, taking notes for the little ginger comrade of his.

As the class comes to its end, Eddward remains seated as the other students leave the classroom, hoping to get away from the freak who randomly decided to show up in a class that's not even on his schedule. Once the classroom is empty, part from the teacher and Eddward himself, Eddward stands up from his seat and starts explaining to the teacher that he's there to get the homework for Kevin Barr. As soon as he explains this something seem to click in the man's head, if the loud 'oh' he let out wasn't an indication enough. Accepting the homework from the man, Eddward heads out from the classroom and back to his locker to store the homework before heading over to the next class where he experiences the same scenario. The teacher is far too surprised to see his face to truly understand what they're talking about for the start of the lesson, but eventually gets into it as they understand slowly but surely that Eddward isn't going to do anything other than taking notes. And when the lesson is over, he heads over to get the homework for Kevin.

With just one more class to go through before the school day ends, Eddward makes sure to ignore all the stares he's beginning to receive. The mere 'looking' and 'observing' seem to have melted away and returned to the ordinary staring and glaring at him, like he did the exact opposite of what they thought he would do – or maybe what they wanted him to do?

The class goes by smoothly, again with a little rough start for the teacher as the sight of him somehow makes people chock. But other than that, it's fairly smooth. He spends most of the time between the moments where the teacher is talking and answering questions from some students, thinking about the lesson he finds himself taking for the moment; Programming. He remembers Kevin having this class his first week. Never truly understanding the point of such a class, Eddward had never really given it a thought all together with all the time he spends studying at the library or at home, but now that he's sitting here and listening to what they get to learn… it's a lot more interesting than he thought it would be. Not only is it about understanding certain computer programs, but it's also about how to make your own programs, from scratch, and eventually how to make a machine not only understand what you want it to do, but to give it a code so that it can do it to. It's… fascinating, to say the least… it's a lot more mechanical than ordinary biology or physics even, but still feels like it's on a different level of intelligence than those two. He ends up paying far more attention to this class than the other two he just attended.

_(**Author's Note:** Please, do not take the class material as facts, for I do not even know if there is a class called 'Programming' to begin with. I didn't go to school in the US or the UK, so naturally I have no idea what sort of classes are being held there, or what they're called. We didn't even have a bell that rang out the classes. We needed to keep track of time ourselves, and as far as I know, school here is still that way. So…if I end up saying something that's just plain wrong, please let me know so I can adjust for future chapters. Thank you!)_

As the bell rings, signaling that it's the end of the school day, the small handful of students in the classroom pack their things and heads out the door, leaving Eddward alone with the teacher. He's just about to get up from his seat and head up to him to explain why he's there when the teacher speaks up.

"You're here for Kevin's homework, aren't you?" The man says, catching Eddward slightly off guard, but not enough.

"Yes, I am." Eddward says, getting his notebook ready to go and stands up.

"Thought so." The man says as he starts pulling out paper for Eddward to take and deliver. "I was a little surprised at first to see a brand new face in this class, but then I remembered hearing about Kevin's absence, and so I figured it might be why you're here."

As the man starts double-checking the papers he's grabbed and takes out a pen to start leaving some slight notes for Kevin to read, Eddward can't help but feel just a little confused by the man's words. He understands that the other teachers were surprised to see him in their classrooms, but that reaction was because it was him that was in their classroom, not the mere fact that there was a new face attending their class. So… why is it that this man was not surprised to see Eddward in his class, but to see a new face all together?

"I fail to see why you would be surprised by something such as that." He says. "Though the class itself might sound a little lackluster, it was quite interesting."

His words draw a chuckle from the man. "Yeah, well, not a lot of students think that way, as you may have noticed from the extreme lack of them that there were."

Nodding a little at the man's words, Eddward observes as he goes over the papers he's about to hand over to him, adding some slight writing here and there. Probably some information to Kevin about what they've went through today and some 'get well soon' message. It would make sense for him to write something like that down. Eddward knows just how much Kevin enjoys this class, more so than any other, which naturally means he must be one of the few students who aren't just interested in what they're teaching, but also try their absolute best. 'An excellent student', so to speak.

The man finishes off his writing with a quick gesture – his signature, most likely – before sitting up more properly and hands Eddward the papers with a bit of a smile. Smiling back at the man, Eddward takes the papers. He's just about to turn on his heels and head out the door when the man starts speaking some more.

"You're going home to him to give him his homework, right?"

"I am." Eddward answers. "I live close by so the school decided I deliver him his homework after each day."

The man merely nods at his words. "I don't really know what happened to him, only that he was hospitalized from some sort of incident that happened here, at school." He says a little sadly. "Send him my regards, will you? He may be the newest to this school, but he's still the best student I've ever had while working here."

Eddward can literally feel the emotion behind the man's words, and thus he nods. "Of course, I'll tell him you send him your best wishes."

The man smiles a little melancholy at him before nodding at him. A soft 'thank you' leaves his lips before he turns to look back at the papers on his desk. And with that, Eddward turns around and exits the classroom.

It's the end of the school day – finally – and since he was caught up in a slight conversation with the last teacher, the hallways are mostly empty as the student body has managed to move outside. It suits Eddward just fine as he can make it to his locker without any sort of glaring or staring. He collects the homework he's to deliver and picks up the red and black cap that rests on top. As he picks it up he pauses to look at it a little. In this light he can almost make out a pattern of some kind in the red fabric at the front, just above the black brim. It takes him a while before he realizes the patterns are in fact the remnants of letters that used to be written on the cap. It's hard to see really what word, or words, the letters are meant to spell out, but he can ask Kevin about that when he delivers it to him.

With that plan in mind, he closes his locker and starts walking down the hallway towards the main entrance. Though it's true that he hates taking this route to exit the school, it's the only one that's open for the students, and he's not really in the mood to get into trouble right now. There's no point getting into trouble at this point either.

The walk home seems to be longer than it is, however it's not hard to understand why that is. With no one to talk to about whatever, you're pretty much left with your own thoughts and nothing else to do while you're walking. Not that it's a bad thing, it's just… dull. Compared to the sometimes hectic monologues Kevin can throw out after a stressful day, this quiet is just plain boring, which only serves to make the trip home so much longer. It feels like an eternity before he can see the road leading to the cul-de-sac, but once he can his steps become a little more motivated. Though, the closer he gets to the house where Kevin lives, to the door which doorbell he's to ring, the more the thoughts strike back at him. The facts that Nathan shared with him, and the things he said just before he told him about what had happened; _it wouldn't have happened if he'd been there._

Sucking in a sharp breath through his teeth and clutching at the homework and the cap, making sure he's not about to drop them suddenly, he looks up at the door and rings the doorbell. It's a standard buzz, though at a slightly lower octave than he's used to. There are no windows around the door immediately, or on the door, so it's hard to make out if someone heard the buzz or not, though it doesn't take long for him to hear footsteps getting closer on the other side of the door, and soon enough he hears the telltale of a door being unlocked. The door opens and reveals the ginger teen he's been searching for, for nearly half the day. Holding the door open with a surprised expression on his face, Kevin looks at Eddward directly as if he was the last person he expected to see.

"_Bonjour, mon citrouille_." He says with bit of a tilted smile. "How are you feeling? I heard quite the troubling tale about something equally disturbing happening while I was absent from school, and that I've been tasked with delivering your homework to you for as long as you're going to be absent yourself."

Kevin remains silent, standing there with the door in his hand. He appears to be absolutely unaware of how to say something back, let alone what. The longer they're standing there in silence, the more unsettled Eddward becomes. Eventually his smile is but completely gone, and he reaches out and carefully places a hand on the ginger's forehead, checking the temperature to make sure he didn't end up catching some bug midst all of the chaos he's been told about. It would seem that the contact is what was needed to wake the pumpkin up again. As soon as he registers the hand on his forehead he jerks a little, effectively shaking the hand off in the process.

"Y-yeah!" He says a little unsure. "Uhm… I'm fine, I think. Come in!" He takes a step backwards and holds the door open even wider as if to invite Eddward in.

With the smile returning to his face, Eddward accepts the invitation and steps in right by the ginger teen and takes his shoes off, placing them by the door like he was taught to do whenever he was invited home to someone – and to do at home as well – as to make sure not to dirty the home he's been invited to. Turning around to the other teen, he finds Kevin standing a bit oddly in the middle of the room. Seeing no reason to prolong the reason why he's there, he adjusts his grip on the homework and the cap before holding the materials out for the ginger.

"Special delivery." He says with the same slightly tilted smile as before.

With a smile of his own, Kevin steps closer and grabs the homework along with the cap. "Thanks! Sorry for being a bit awkward before. I was preparing to see Nat and to deal with his… you know."

"Personality?"

"Yeah… _that_." Kevin chuckles and scratches the back of his neck with his free hand before holding up the cap before him. "I'm glad he found my cap though. I was worried it would be gone for good, with it being so old and all."

Eddward nods a little at his words. "I believe he said something about finding it in the lost and found." He eyes the cap in the ginger's hand. "I noticed earlier that there are some remnants, from some letters perhaps, on the front. Did it use to have a message written on it?"

"Yeah: Quiz Bowl." Kevin says with a smile that grows bigger. "My old school in Lemon Brook had a Quiz Bowl club, and after winning one of the tournaments I got this cap and became the captain." The smile slightly falters as he continues. "It was about… two years before I got the diagnosis… I never heard anything from the club members after I was hospitalized, so I assume they moved on with a new captain."

Just like Kevin's smile is faltering at the memories, Eddward's smile is long gone after hearing how the club members never cared about contacting one of their friends – their captain even – during such an emotionally devastating time as that… and after _two years _of knowing each other? Is that even friendship?

The somewhat forced conversation ends up in a not comfortable silence after that last part, and it's clear that neither of the teens is happy about that, but also that neither really knows how to get out of it. Playing a little with his toes against the soft carpeted floor, Eddward tries to be the one who keeps the conversation going… though he knows it's not going to be for the better, as all he has to say is about what happened when he wasn't at school. Or he would've been the one to start the conversation anew if Kevin hadn't been faster than him.

"Oh yeah!" His voice almost squeaks. "You weren't in school Monday. Or… not from what I could tell." He then carefully – with a hint of confronting – looks back at him. "Where you there and I just missed you, _or…?_"

Unable to stop the chuckle, Eddward decides to just get it on with. "I was ill, believe it or not." He says, sensing the uncertain trust from the other. "My mother had made me stay home to rest up as to not miss out to much of school. Though it would seem I missed out on something quite important the first day...?"

At first Kevin seem a bit confused as to what he means, but then something seem to click and he immediately goes from confused to uncertain how to react. He scratches the back of his neck, which is something that Eddward has started to recognize as a nervous habit of his. A soft chuckle echoes in the room as Kevin appear to wreck his brain to answer him, or sell him some made up lie to make it seem like it wasn't such a big deal. Again, Eddward remembers that Kevin has told him that having people care about him is one of the worst things he know of, so it would only make sense that he would try and paint it all in a much more gentle tone than it actually is. And yet, Eddward doesn't rush him. He stands where he is and waits patiently for Kevin to answer. Of course he's going to analyze and maybe even judge the answer he'll get, but he also wants to give the smaller teen the benefit of the doubt, hoping that he will tell him the truth – even though he knows he won't.

"Oh! That!" Kevin says, still chuckling uncertainly and scratching the back of his neck. "That- it was just a big misunderstanding, was all! I didn't really need to go to the hospital at all, as it turned out."

Eddward eyes the ginger for a moment. "Nathan said otherwise." He says, taking a step closer as if to only make his point clearer that he's not going to buy any sugarcoating. "He said that you started bleeding… from the intestines, if I didn't misunderstand." At this point Kevin has gotten slightly paler as he listens to Eddward talking. "Internal bleeding is never something to be joked about, Kevin."

A defeated expression takes over the uncertain one in Kevin's face. "I know…" He says with a low voice as he lowers his head.

The silence from before is back, only this time it's slightly different. It's wanted and much more comfortable than the last one, though it doesn't last nearly as long as it also allows Kevin to possibly come up with more comebacks and/or sugarcoated stories to try and throw at Eddward. That's not something Eddward is about to allow, and thus, the silence must be gone.

"Why is it that you never told me about the jocks bullying you?" He asks. "I am aware that they do, but not at this certain level." He waits for a moment for Kevin to answer, but when he doesn't, he presses on, hoping for the best. "Had I known how bad they were treating you I would've done something. I would've made sure this never happened."

That claim definitely gets the other's attention. "What kind of a friend do you think I am?" Kevin asks, definitely triggered by Eddward's words. "I- do you seriously think I hang around you just to get some sort of protection from a couple of douches? Eddward, I know you're able to _"take care of them"_ or whatever you want to call it, but that's not why I spend my time talking to you! If that's what I wanted then I would've offered you money for your protection, from day one! _Feck_\- just _being around_ _you _is what's making them target me in the first place!"

Eddward doesn't do or say anything as Kevin is clearly being overtaken by his anger – seems like his ginger comrade, his pumpkin, has a rather short fuse once you pull the right strings. As he proceeds with the unintelligibly angry ranting, Eddward takes a deep breath and decides to try and quench the fire he accidentally started. He slowly reaches out his hand to place on Kevin's should- a sudden flash of movement is too fast for him to notice and suddenly his head is forced away by a sharp and painful force that's spreading a stinging and burning feeling throughout his left cheek.

"_HOW __**DARE**__ YOU?!_"

* * *

_Alas, the next chapter – that was so incredibly fun to write that I just couldn't stop. It's currently 2:46 am, and I just finished writing, but I don't care. This chapter was a delight to write, and so will the next one be, hopefully. I really didn't plan for it to end like this, but I'm not complaining. _

_On a side note, has anyone seen the anime 'Black Butler'? Me, personally I don't watch anime that much, but there's one scene that's been showing up in my youtube's recommendations, and it's a scene where Ciel slaps Sebastian – for whatever reason – and Sebastian just seems so caught off guard in that moment, so surprised, and I just couldn't get that expression on his face out of my mind, so I slightly added the slapping scene at the end just to hopefully get it out of my mind… I don't think it worked, but anyway – if you want to picture Sebastian's expression on Eddward's face from being slapped by Katelyn, then go ahead, for I sure did. Also, since I don't watch that anime other than the recommended clips that show up on youtube, I unfortunately don't know what episode or season that scene is from. Sorry. _

_Anyway – hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm gonna go to bed now! See you in the next one!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Just a short little chapter where the two of them clear the air between them as they establish that their friendship is legit._

* * *

**Chapter 7**

_You can trust me_

It is as if time has ceased to function for a moment. Eddward and Kevin are both standing frozen in their places, not sure what happened and what to do now afterwards. As the striking pain in his left cheek slowly begins ebbing into a warm sensation through his skin, Eddward slowly comes back to his senses.

Blinking once, twice… a third time before he's really able to move again and goes over the action that just occurred. Kevin had slapped him. Clearly overtaken by his anger and/or frustration with what Eddward had said, Kevin had indeed hit him, which only proves the point in his earlier statement that being cared for is a very sensitive subject to bring up with the small ginger. As he reign his mind once again, Eddward does eventually turn his head to look at the said ginger, catching the most pure chocked expression he's ever seen on the smaller teen's face. It would seem that Eddward is not the only one who was caught off guard by what just occurred. Kevin, who still has his hand slightly in the air, seem to be completely gone in his numbed mind as he only stares with big and wide eyes that doesn't really focus on anything. His breathing is staggered and uneven, which is starting to slightly worry Eddward; however he dares not do or say anything in fear of triggering some other sort of reaction from the other teen. And thus, he reduces to carefully observe Kevin to make sure he's okay and that he's going to snap out of it eventually.

"I-!" Lo and behold. "I-I-!"

He staggers, clearly not out of the chock yet, but does what he can to say what he feels the need to say, and Eddward lets him. Though all he manages to get out right now is merely staggered and chopped up words that don't really make any sense at the moment. Still, Eddward remains silent to give Kevin room to speak his mind in his own time.

The feeling of his beanie being just the slightest out of place drags him to reach up, just momentarily looking away from Kevin, to correct it. That's all that's needed however it would seem.

"_Sorry!_" Kevin shouts in a nearly high pitched voice that causes Eddward to jump from surprise. "S-sorry for- f-for hitting you! But-!" He gulps, most likely to try and keep his emotions down, if the shimmer in his eyes are a hint to take in. "But don't you _**dare**_ assume that I'm hanging around you just to get some kind of _pity protection!_"

And with that said, Kevin looks back up at Eddward with the most heated expression Eddward's ever seen in his life. It's almost like a combination of frustration, betrayal, seriousness and the strongest feature of them all: Anger.

Caught plenty off guard, Eddward's chock returns in a new form, causing his eyes to grow big and his jaw to slack and drop open. As the shimmer in Kevin's eyes turn into fully formed tears that are forcefully rubbed away by the ginger, it slowly dawns on Eddward what caused Kevin to become as upset as he did. After all this time they've spent together, Kevin has clearly started seeing them as friends – _actual friends_, not just a "comrade" or someone to just hang with so you're not alone – and hearing Eddward's question must've been like hearing Eddward saying that they are merely acquaintances with a deal between them of some sorts, that that's all he believed Kevin wanted out of their relation. The thought of Kevin getting upset over this allows a feeling of security to build up within Eddward, bringing a face of relief and joy to his face, which naturally causes Kevin to become slightly confused once he sees said smile.

"Uhm… Are you okay, or… why are you smiling?"

Closing his eyes, Eddward allows a soft chuckle to escape him before he answers. "_Oui, mon citrouille__. _I am fine." He then looks at Kevin, allowing the smile to grow some more. "_Je vais bien_."

"Okay… good, just- just cool it with the French or, whatever it is you're speaking."

"Very well, very well." Eddward says, still with a soft chuckle in his voice.

"Right…" Kevin says, seeming to collect his thoughts for a moment. "… I just… I want you to know that you can trust me, alright? I'm not… I don't want to be your friend just to have someone checking my back. Okay?"

Letting his expression land on a soft note, Eddward nods at Kevin with the smile still intact, feeling content over the fact that his friendship with Kevin is anything but hollow. A sense of calm takes over the moment as both teens allow the silence to take over. Kevin answers Eddward's smile with one of his own and a sigh of relief.

Once the calm between the two has settled in they begins talking about the homework a bit more, when it's due and what the teacher's are expecting to be done till then. Kevin's smile throughout the conversation turns into a face of surprise when Eddward pulls out his notepad and goes through the notes he took during the classes he attended for Kevin. When he asks the taller teen about them he just gets a shrug in response, as if it was no big deal to the other – which it really wasn't – and eventually lets the matter of Eddward attending his classes go. They've just about gone over most of the homework when Eddward looks up from his notepad.

"Kevin?" He asks, catching the ginger's attention. "I do not mean to pry in any way, however, when do you believe you will return to school?"

Kevin sniffs a bit, thinking about it with a slight frown on his face. "Well… the doctor at the hospital said I could get back in after a week or two of resting, but I think I want to get back as soon as possible." Another sniff followed by a slight scratch to the nose. "Sooo… Monday next week, I guess?"

"So soon?" Eddward asks, unable to hide his surprise.

"Yeah, well…" Kevin says, immediately beginning to scratch the back of his neck. "I don't like being at home so… as soon as I possibly can."

_He doesn't like being at home?_

An uneasy feeling begins to settle in, in the back of Eddward's mind, but he fights it away for the time being, hoping to say something to lift the other's spirit instead of asking questions that will only serve to dig the hole deeper. With a slight shrug he tries his best to play it off, acting like he doesn't think too much about it – even though he's already halfway to the earth's core at this point – all the while he thinks about what to do or say to get the other's mind off of the current topic.

"I can understand that." He says, hoping not to upset the other again. "If you don't mind, when do you usually head to school in the morning?"

Kevin looks up at him, and suddenly he changes from being down to being just the slightest mischievous. "Earlier than you, I would guess." He says with a fake sneer and starts giggling when Eddward gives him an unimpressed look. _Clearly he caught on with Eddward's attempt to change the topic._ "Sorry! Sorry!" Kevin giggles slightly before thinking deeply again, though not as long as the last time. "I think I like being ready to leave at 7:30, just so I have time to, you know, daydream on the way and get my stuff from the locker, I guess."

"7:30?" Eddward says and focuses for a moment, his gaze getting stuck just slightly above him. After a nod he looks back down at Kevin with a smile. "Alright, I'll see you then."

"See you… when?" Kevin asks, this time being the one struck with surprise.

He doesn't get an answer though, just a shrug and a smile aimed his way as Eddward walks to retrieve his shoes and then heads out the door, bidding the other a good evening and goodbye. The smile still refuses to leave his face as he heads over across the street to his own home. Unlocking the door and heading inside, he kicks off his shoes again and heads into the kitchen to see what he can make for dinner. It's his time to cook whenever his mother is at work, after all.


	8. Chapter 8

_I keep trying to change the genre of the story to "awkward", but it doesn't exist!_

* * *

**Chapter 8**

_Pumpkin Protection_

The next day ends with Eddward passing by Katelyn's front door before going home; to give her the today's homework that he collected from the classes he attended in "Kevin's" place. Though she's not entirely sure why he decided to go and attend the classes and not just wait till the end of it – like Nat claimed he did – and talk to the teacher then to get the homework. She tries to understand the way he's thinking, but then she remembers who she's trying to understand, and she drops the matter with a shrug.

When the weekend arrives she takes the opportunity to complete the homework completely, telling both her mother and father that she's decided to go back to school on Monday and that she needs to get everything done before then – which isn't a lie. However, her mother seem to be under the impression that her daughter should stay home for another week while her father, who still doesn't know about the hospital visit, doesn't understand why she should stay home _at all_ just because she's on her period. This misunderstanding/disagreement often, if not always, ends with the two of them arguing – loudly. That's why/when Katelyn locks herself in her bedroom, puts on her earphones and continues with her homework while blocking out the arguing outside with music in her ears. _Monday can't come soon enough. _Though when it does, it's basically the same deal.

The entirety of the morning is being spent on her "talking" with her parents. Her father is trying to be social and joke with her awkwardly, while he still tries to get some sort of information out of her as to why his wife doesn't want her to attend school. _"Ops! Sorry, didn't mean to push you like that! Are you okay, or sore? You know, from being on your __**period?**__ Do you wanna stay home? Might as well since your mother wants you to. Why is that by the way? I mean – it's just a period, it's not like you're sick or dying, __**right?**__" If only._ Then once he's left for work, she's stuck with her mother, listening to her trying to convince her to stay home, or to just hear her rambling on about the situation she's managed to get herself into – _because she really wanted to get stuck in this kind of mess _– or how silly her father is. _"I just don't understand him sometimes! Can't he tell how grueling this is for women?! Are you sure you're gonna be fine? Do you want to stay home? Why do you always have to dress like that? You look like a __**boy!**__ Then again, I guess that's the point? How hard can it be to fix something like this? __**Just say something!**__"_

At 7:25 Katelyn takes a really deep breath. She's finished with getting herself and her stuff ready for school. Her parents have left for work – _thank god_ – leaving her in peace and quiet which allows her to think through the coming school day – where she can go if she has to "hide" from someone, what she can do or say to avoid another "confrontation", things like that. Taking another deep breath and holding it in for a few seconds before letting it out loudly, she puts on her jacket and grabs her bag before heading towards the front door. It's not that its cold outside that caused her to grab her jacket – autumn is still a few more weeks away – it's just that she's been freezing nonstop since she got home from the hospital last week. With her period as the main suspect for this matter she's come prepared for the worst. Packed in a secret pocket in her bag is not one, but two tampons ready for her to grab just in case, and though it's basically over for this time, she wants to be prepared.

At 7:30 sharp, she opens the door and heads out. She's just about taken one step outside the door to turn around and lock it when she looks up and sees Eddward, standing at the other side of the front yard to her house, looking back at her as if he's been waiting for her. Locking eyes with him, she freezes for a moment as she tries to understand what he's doing there. In the meantime a smirk begins to form on Eddward's face, as he sees how "Kevin" has frozen in place at his front door. A slight chuckle escapes him and he decides to go up and see what's wrong with his little ginger friend.

"_Bonjour mon citrouille! Comment vas-tu aujourd'hui?_"

"_Eh?_" Katelyn scrunches up her face a little in confusion from hearing the French words, which only seem to cause Eddward's smirk to grow even bigger on his face.

"How are you today?" Eddward says, still smirking at her confused expression.

"Well… fine I guess? What about you? What are you doing here?"

A more surprised expression begins to grow on his face. "Why, pumpkin!" He says with his smirk still intact. "I told you just last week on Thursday that I would be seeing you here at this time."

"You did?" She asks, and then the memory of him saying something about that flashes slightly by in her mind, causing her to raise her own eyebrows. "Oh. Oh yeah."

As Eddward lets another chuckle escape him, Katelyn turns on her heel to lock the door before the two of them heads on their merry way to school. Having always walked to school alone as Eddward rarely makes it there on time – or at all – Katelyn wastes no time starting to talk to him, asking him how his weekend has been and how his mother is, how it's going for her at work. It's just ordinary everyday small talk, really, but she still tries to make sure to talk about something relatively interesting for both of them. She's not exactly sure how interested Eddward is in the topics she brings up, but he's not telling her to be quiet and actually answers the questions she's asking, so… _so far so good._

They've just reached the end of the street that leads them to the school yard, and it would seem that the "rumor" that they're walking together to school has reached the school before them, as everyone stares at them. The students that are still outside in the school yard all stop what they're doing – basically – just to look at them. Though they're all always staring at Eddward, plus Katelyn whenever she's walking with him, this still feels like a new kind of thing. After all – when was the last time Eddward came early to school, at the very start of the school day? Frowning a bit from the observation of them being watched from every single direction, Katelyn eventually turns to look up at Eddward to see how fazed he is by this. He seems relatively calm, though she can tell that he is looking around without moving his head, so he's still on the alert. Whether that's from everyone staring or from something else is still unknown to her. With her frown deepening just the slightest more, she looks ahead again, preparing herself for the start of the school day after being absent for the first time since she started. _Oh yeah! That might actually be one of the reasons why they're all staring! The hospitalized kid is back!_

They enter the school's front doors and walks down the hallway to "Kevin's" locker. Casting Eddward a slight surprised glance, she eventually brings herself to open up her locker and getting her stuff for her first lesson ready to go. Biology. Fun.

With the big green book in hand she closes her locker and turns towards Eddward, only to find him standing there and watching her. They remain standing there for a moment and she can't shake the feeling that he might be waiting for her to lead the way, _but where?_ After all this time, she has no idea what classes he's supposed to have, let alone where they are, or where his locker is located. When nothing is still happening, she decides to break the silence before it manages to settle in.

"So… where's your locker?"

Still merely looking back at her, Eddward remains silent as he starts heading in a direction – possibly towards his locker – and Katelyn, for some reason, decides to follow him. They eventually make their way to a row of lockers and Eddward does indeed open one of them. It screeches loudly, causing Katelyn and other passerby's to flinch slightly. A low apology comes from Eddward, but other than that he still remains silent. He reaches into his locker for a moment before pulling out- _wait a sec…_

Furrowing her brows, she watches as he pulls out the big green biology book from his locker along with a notepad that seems to be rather old, yet in good condition due to being untouched. The telltale of the screech rings throughout the hallway once more and then the mystery known as Eddward turns around to face her again, remaining just as silent as before. At this point, she's not sure what the expression on her face looks like, however giving Eddward's slight unsure look, she has to say she is either looking like she might be dying or like she's seen something unnatural happen, like a mountain standing up and walking away, or something.

"Are you unwell?" His voice is sudden and surprisingly loud through the hallway. She jumps a little as she was knocked out from her thoughts by it, but steadies herself quickly.

"Y-yeah!" She says, trying to pretend like nothing happened or is currently happening. "Um… so…"

A soft scoff, _a friendly scoff_, escapes him as the beginning of a smile begins to curl at the corners of his lips. "_Allons-y._" And with that he turns around and walks away. He doesn't make it far before realizing his pumpkin isn't following. He turns around and looks back at "Kevin" who seems to be a combination of human and question mark at the moment. "Let's go."

"Right!" She exclaims as she's being snapped out of her thoughts again and starts walking.

They walk together to where Katelyn's biology class is, Katelyn holding her books with both her arms close to her chest, whereas Eddward merely holds the book and the notepad in one hand, hanging low by his side. As they arrive at the classroom, Katelyn turns towards Eddward and thanks him for walking her to class before heading inside, not aware that the raven teen is still on her tail. It's not until she's taken her usual seat by the classroom wall that she notice that he's still there. Not only that, but he's taking the seat next to her, placing his biology book and notepad on the desk. He must've been able to feel her staring holes in his head, because he looks back at her after just a few seconds after sitting down. He raises an eyebrow slightly at her, as if he's encouraging her to speak her mind, so to speak. Eventually, she does just that.

"Not that I mind seeing you in class, but why are you here?"

This time he doesn't scoff friendly at her, he chuckles. "I thought that was obvious." He says with a smirk. "I am attending class."

"That's… great… but since when do you have biology Monday first period?"

"Who said that I do?" He asks back, his grin growing just the slightest bigger.

"No one, that's the point."

His smirk eventually grows into a fully fledged grin that exposes the gap between his teeth that she keeps forgetting he has since he rarely smiles. "That reminds me…" He says, changing the subject no doubt. "Would you be so kind as to give me you number?"

"Yeah, sure." She says and hands him her phone so he can add himself into the contacts. It took her a small moment to answer him, as her brain literally pointed out just how long it took for this dude to ask a girl for her number. But then she remembered that this is Eddward, not just some dude and that he thinks she's a guy herself, so she forcefully pushed the thought out of her mind, resulting in her responding just the slightest later than what's seen as normal. Fortunately, Eddward didn't seem to notice, or at least he didn't say anything.

"There." He says, handing her phone back to her after sending a text to himself.

She just manages to check her contacts to see the brand new number among the list of her friends and family before the teacher enters the room. **Eddward V**. Is that in case she already knows an Eddward? Possibly. She doesn't have that much time to think about it as the bell eventually rings through the school, telling everyone that school has officially started.

Though the biology teacher seemed to be a bit surprised to see both Eddward and "Kevin" in class today, he did manage to get back on track after a short moment. The same can be said about the AP Calculus teacher during second period, as well as the Chemistry teacher during the third. By the time of the fourth period, that being lunch, Katelyn has gotten used to the fact that Eddward is attending the same classes as her. She still doesn't know why, since he never truly answers her when she tries to ask him about it, but it's not like it's a bad thing. No one seems to be interested in having anything to do with her, good _or_ bad. It's almost like the incident with John has made everyone steer clear from them in fear of something happening… _oh…_

They sit at their usual table, that being in the far back, far away from everyone else. With the question burning in her mind, and with the knowledge that she indeed does already know the answer to the question in question… she sighs, effectively catching Eddward's attention as he looks up at her and away from his food. Not wanting to ruin lunch for the both of them, she swallows her emotions and gives him a smile before continuing on her lunch. Throughout it all, she can feel Eddward's blue eyes burning on her skin, but she refuses to meet them. He must know what's on her mind; otherwise he would've asked her what the matter was already. The fact that he remains silent and therefore is giving her time to think things through and how to say something for it to not sound stupid or heartless, is evidence enough for her to know that he is merely waiting for her to prepare herself mentally before dropping the bomb. He's really good at reading people in that way, and he always gives them time to form their words… until they take too long. Then he lets them know that they can't have all the time in the world, for then nothing would end up being said.

That fact being straightened out and laid on the table, Katelyn feels her heart clench a little as she sees Eddward put his fork down on the table next to the now empty plate. Her time is up.

"Speak your mind, Kevin." Eddward's voice is low, calm and yet serious. When nothing is being said for a moment he speaks up again. "_Pumpkin_. It is very unbecoming of you to force people to drag your thoughts out of your mouth. So speak your mind, please."

"I will, I just…" She sets her own fork down at her halfheartedly eaten meal and stares down for a moment, collecting her thoughts. Then she looks back up at him. "Remember when I said I don't hang with you to get some pity protection?"

"_Oui_." He says easily.

A few moments go by before she speaks up again. "Do I really need to address the elephant in the room?"

A chuckle. A chuckle and a smile is what she receives for an answer. "_Mes intentions sont bonnes, mon citrouille. Je veux juste m'assurer que tu es en sécurité._"

"Enough with the French already!" She says a little annoyed at him for always using that language when telling her something important. "Speak English or don't speak at all!"

Another chuckle. "I just want to make sure you're safe, pumpkin." And with that said he gives her a melancholy smile. "You are after all the only friend I have, and might be the only true one I've _ever_ had. I just want to make sure nothing happens to you."

After hearing those words her frustration falters, slowly but steadily. "Sorry, I just… I just don't want you to think that this is all this friendship is about: me getting some sort of protection just by being near you. I'm not like that! I hang with you because you're _you!_ Do you understand that?"

Chuckle… _chuckle, chuckle, chuckle and chuckle_. "_Oui_." He says, his smile turning somewhat brighter. "I understand."

"Perfect!" She picks up her fork again and continues with her meal till the plate is empty, then she puts her things together at her tray before looking back at him. "Wanna crash at the library till the bell rings?"

"Certainly." He answers as he stands up, picking up his own tray. "_Allons-y._"

They walk out of the lunchroom once they've gotten rid of their trays, and then they head straight to the library, where they usually hang out during the lunch if time drags on, which it does for the moment. Lunch period is about 1-1.5 hours, depending on the day, and sometimes that's way too much time to spend solely in the lunchroom. In the library however, time always fly by. For whatever reason, spending time in the library with Eddward can be one of the funniest times of the entire school day. Whenever he starts rambling on about a subject he overheard some students talk about in the hallway and how he knew from the get go that they were all so very wrong in what they were saying and stating, or just how he can keep talking about something interesting he recently read in one of the many, many fact books that the school keep in the library. It truly is fascinating how this guy, who rarely attends his classes, or ever, have so much knowledge about the subjects that are being taught during the classes. Truly, he is knowledge hungry, but something is making him not wanting to be _in_ a classroom, but rather _out_.

Once they arrive at the library, they find that the librarian desk is empty – as usually by this time of the day – meaning the librarian is either on her lunch break or just somewhere within the library, just out of sight. Either way, they make their way to the little corner that Eddward seem to favor. But when they walk down between the many different bookshelves, Katelyn spots one of the poufs in one of the other corners. _That would be so comfortable right now!_

"You go ahead." She says as she stops walking and turns towards the corner with the pouf. "I'm just gonna go and get me a pouf. Be right with ya!"

Throwing her an uncertain look, Eddward keeps walking ahead and starts looking for a book to read once he's in the corner. Sure enough, "Kevin" comes into the corner carrying a beanbag – or dragging it after him – and places it next to one of the bookshelves in the corner before, basically, throwing himself onto it with a big smile on his lips. All the while Eddward is looking at him with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Pumpkin?" He says, slightly hesitant if there is a point pointing this out or not.

"Yeah?"

"That's not a pouf."

Opening her eyes with her brows furrowed, she sits up as best she can and looks at Eddward. He looks back at her with a slightly unreadable expression on his face. It's one of those _bored-or-just-don't-care _looks he usually wears when he's about to spill some facts that are basically pointless, but he still feels the need to spill them. With this in mind, she allows the conversation to be his.

"What do you mean?" She asks.

All he does is slightly point to the pouf she's sitting in before repeating his words. "That's not a pouf. It's a beanbag."

At this point she's looking back at him as if he's insane, furrowed brows and all. "I know." She says, watching his expression go from the bored one to a confused one.

"If you know this, then why do you always refer to it as a 'pouf'?"

"Because it's both?"

Almost looking baffled, Eddward raises his eyebrows at her statement. "What did you say?"

"It's both." She says, feeling a chuckle beginning to form. "And here I thought you knew French." She sits up a bit more and looks back at his confused expression. "One of the nurses that worked in the department I was hospitalized in, when I had cancer, she was French and always said 'pouf' whenever she was talking about the beanbags. I asked her about it and she said that's the French word for beanbag." The chuckle now escapes her as Eddward's expression evolves. "It was easier for the younger patients, like the little kids, to say pouf instead for beanbag, so that's what she said."

She chuckles again as Eddward apparently starts thinking deep about the facts that she just laid on him – _just like that_ – and he furrows his brows the more he thinks about it. And facts about French to! The thing he always uses against her whenever he feels like it, like whenever he wants to tease her or just annoy her.

"Were you thinking with an English brain?" She asks, this time her chuckle turning into giggles.

He merely shakes her head before picking a book and sitting down in his chair, refusing to answer her giggles. This only causes her to start out right laugh for a moment. He does give her the stink eye for a moment before allowing himself to chuckle with her at the whole thing. The French speaking person was corrected by a non French speaking person about the French language. _Oh irony, how I love you._

The bell eventually rings, indicating that the fifth period is about to start. Getting their stuff collected and returned to their rightful spot, they leave the library talking about the one thing they now, apparently, have somewhat in common – languages. While Katelyn asks a little about French phrases and whatnot, Eddward learned that she, instead of taking Spanish or Germany for Language class, chose to learn sign language. When he asked her why her only reply was that she was curious about learning it. It seemed to satisfy his curiosity, and they went on to get their stuff for Katelyn's next class: English. _Why, when you speak of the devil, he shows up, doesn't he?_

They enter the classroom just before the bell rings and they take their seats next to each other like the previous classes, and just like the previous teachers, the English teacher is a bit baffled to not just see Eddward there, but "Kevin" as well. Unlike the previous teachers, they walk up to them and ask if everything is alright or if there's something they need to know or help with. When everything has been settled, that everything is fine and nothing is wrong with the two of them, the teacher leaves them with a smile and starts the lesson. Throughout the lesson Katelyn can feel Eddward's eyes on her as he seems to have caught on her struggle with her native language… or, the topics that are brought up during the English classes. He keeps offering his help and she keeps turning him down… for now. The same can be mostly said about the sixth period, that being Algebra 2, however, unlike English, Katelyn has no problem with Algebra. This is easy for her, which Eddward can clearly see since he leaves her alone to do her own thing during this class. And for the seventh and final period, Katelyn get to be the one who helps Eddward out, as the class is Robotics.

As the final bell rings, the students pack their things up as fast as they can to get out of there and go home. Eddward and Katelyn however pack their stuff in a much slower and calmer manner, talking away about what they got to learn during the class. Eddward is a genius, but it would seem that he hasn't really put that much thoughts into mechanic mathematics and what you can do with it if you're creative enough. That's where Katelyn is outsmarting him – not just from going to the classes, but from being creative enough to see what you can do and smart enough to figure out how to do it. So that's what they're talking about, basically, all the way to their lockers to put their books away, get their things ready and then heads down the hallways to go home. Ignoring all of the stares they get from the other students, they're happily chitchatting about this and that, like ordinary friends do. They're just about halfway to the main entrance when a big and strong hand grabs Katelyn's shoulder and pulls her back, causing her to let out a yelp before she's thrown into a tight embrace.

"_Cutie patotie~!_" Nat's loudly calls out as he throws his arms around "Kevin", nearly choking him to death. "I've been so _worried_ about you! Thank _goodness_ you are okay!"

"N-Nat!" Kevin tries to say, but is currently being choked by the very strong boy. "C-can't! Brea-the!"

"OH!" Nat calls as he lets go of Kevin so that he can breathe. "Sorry about that sweetie. I just couldn't help myself!" He says and pulls him into another hug, this one not a bear one. "I'm just so happy to see that you're still alive!"

"What do you mean? You've been helping deliver my homework for the better part of last week, and I answered the door every time." Kevin says while patting Nat's back a bit awkwardly.

"Yes, but then the dark one over there took over and I haven't gotten to see you since!" Nat says while slightly pointing at Eddward, teasing an irritated groan and an eye roll out of him. "I've been worried sick over my little cutie!"

At that point, Katelyn can just laugh at the silly boy who's currently refusing to let her go. She hugs him back, patting his back a couple of times, and even casts a few glances in Eddward's direction, asking for some kind of assistance. However, to her surprise, Eddward simply smirks at her while shaking his head, telling her that he is not about to help her out of this one. _What is this?!_ She could've sworn that he hated Nat with how he tries to avoid him like the plague! Why is he smiling at this? Did they plan this? Oh, I bet they planned this!

Nat does eventually let her go from his embrace, but still holds onto her arms to keep her from leaving right away. He keeps asking her if she really is okay, if there's something he needs to know in case they're going to court over what happened and if there's anything he can do for her, just anything at all and in general. She just keeps chuckling at the way he acts over this. I mean, true that he was there and that she never truly got to see what happened after the nurse and that girl, Amy, dragged her away from the scene of the crime, but he really needs to calm down. One bodyguard is enough!

"Well, alright then." Nat says as he senses there's no arguing with Kevin. "If you really are sure… but don't you hesitate to come and tell me if there's something you need help with! If it's to get someone to do your homework for you or if you're dying and has to go to the hospital again, don't hesitate! I am all ears when it comes to you sugarcane!"

Kevin chuckles again at his serious silliness. "Yes Nat! I promise! You'll be the first one to know." A throat being cleared can be heard behind them and they both turn to find Eddward looking a little displeased. "Well, you and Eddward both will be the fort one_**s**_ to know." He says, focusing his pronunciation on the '_s_' in the word ones, while looking back at Eddward with a pointed look, only to receive a slightly less displeased one in return.

"You better!" Nat smiles and pulls him into a hug again before letting him go to walk home with Eddward. "You keep an eye on him for me Eddward!" He calls after them.

"Only if you do as well." Eddward answers without turning around to face him.

"Of course!" Nat shouts after him, and thus lets them go to go home.

They walk home in a pleasant silence, talking a little now and then. Katelyn is still a little unsure and possible overwhelmed over the fact that not only Eddward, but Nat as well, is going to "keep an eye" on her. _What does that even mean?_ I mean, she knows what it means, but she just doesn't understand why – and why the two of them? They hate each other! Well, Eddward hates Nat and Nat seems to live off of Eddward's annoyance in him, _but still!_ Why are they working together to keep an eye on her?! It doesn't make sense! Or does it and she is the only one who isn't seeing it? Probably.

They reach the cul-de-sac soon enough and the peaceful walk in silence is interrupted by loud voices in a heated argument coming from one of the houses – _her house._ A confused expression begins to show on Eddward's face as they're slowing down to a stop at the house's front yard. Lowering her head in shame, she can literally feel Eddward's eyes burn in the back of her head, you know, underneath her cap. Speaking of which… she grabs the tip of the brim and slightly pulls it further down to cover her face with it, hoping to block some of reality with it. The act merely causes a knot of worry to start develop in Eddward's guts. He looks up at the house, where the heated argument is coming from, and then looks back down at the small ginger teenager next to him.

_Is this why he doesn't like being at home?_

Feeling sad for the other, Eddward twists his lips before clearing his throat a little, hoping to catch the other's attention. He does, but it's clear to him that Kevin fears what he's about to say. He's not about to ask about what his parents are arguing about, no way no how, but is rather trying to come up with an idea of what to do to help Kevin feel a little better… though he seems to be at a bit of a loss for the moment. Arguing parents are a very rare occasion when you only have one – and when I say it's rare, I naturally mean it never happens. Killing a sigh, an idea finally forms in his mind, and he hopes it's a good one. One that Kevin can feel comfortable with.

"Would you like to come over for a bit?" He asks, unsure as to what the other will say. He can see that Kevin heard him, given the sudden jump he just did from hearing it, though it takes him some time to answer. "You do not have to; I merely wished to… offer the opportunity to you."

Slowly but surely, Kevin lifts his head to look up at him, a very small smile on his lips. "Yes." He says with an equally small voice.

And with that they turn on their heels, walking away from the house where the arguing is still going strong and heads towards the one where the occupants son has never had a friend over, even when he had a few as a child. The knot of worry suddenly turns into a knot of anxiety.

* * *

_Had to do some research to come up with an "actual schedule" for Katelyn to follow, cuz' I have no idea what classes there are in the US. Hopefully I understood the internet correctly._

_Also, I don't think I need to say this, but just in case I do: I do not know French. I'm using Google translate whenever Eddward is speaking French. That being said, it might not be correct grammar, but what do I know? Hopefully enough to continue this story. _


	9. Chapter 9

_Conversations are excellent at making a chapter appear longer than it is. _

* * *

**Chapter 9**

_A plan in mind, please be kind_

Katelyn walks silently behind Eddward, embarrassed that he had somewhat witnessed the chaos that is the everyday life in her family. He hasn't said anything about the matter but it was also barely ten seconds ago when he offered to go home to his place, so… it might be coming soon enough. She does her best not to think about it though, and tries her best to focus on the matter at hand: She is going home to Eddward's, with the possibility to meet the woman who raised him – _his mother. _Though along the way over to his place, she can't help but notice how he seems to be quite nervous… by why? Why would he be nervous about bringing a friend over to his place? Is it because he's never really had a true friend and the last time he brought someone home it ended badly? Oh, that could be the reason I suppose. With this thought in mind, she silently makes a promise to Eddward that she will not do something bad while in his home! If he, by any chance, tells her to leave for no apparent reason, then she will not question him; she will do what he says and respect his decision. It's his home after all.

They eventually reach the front door to Eddward's house, and for some reason he appear to be surprised that the door is locked. Watching his reaction for a moment, she can't help but wonder why this discovery is something to be surprised by.

"Is something wrong?" She asks carefully, fully prepared to turn and head back home if he tells her to. To her surprise, he doesn't.

"Nothing." He says, turning around to give her an uncertain smile. "I just thought my mother would be home by now, but it appears that she isn't." Unlocking the door, he holds it open for her so she can enter first. "She always leaves the door unlocked when she's home before me."

"Oh." She says as she enters the house. "That's nice of her. I wish I could've met her."

"She wishes to meet you as well." Eddward says as he closes the door behind him. "Please, take off your shoes before entering."

"Ok."

Taking her shoes off and placing them by the door, where Eddward placed his vans – they must be vans, right? – she then places her bag on the floor so that she can take off her jacket and hangs it where the jackets go. She then follows Eddward into the kitchen, after picking up her bag again, and sits down by the rectangular white kitchen table, while Eddward goes off further into the kitchen to pour them a glass of water each. Once he's got the glasses in hand he joins her at the table, placing one of them by her before sitting down.

"Thanks." She says and starts drinking from it immediately, feeling his eyes burn in her skin. Placing the glass back down at the table she looks back at him with a hopefully intact smile. "So, what did you want to do?"

He thinks for a moment, playfully tapping on the glass of water in front of him. "Would you be interested in completing some of the schoolwork we got today?"

"You mean the homework?" She asks, receiving a raised eyebrow at her. "Sure, sure." She says, raising her hands in a surrendering manner before digging through her bag to get all of the today's homework and places it on the table. "Which should we do first?" It is crystal clear to her that he notices her desperate attempt to hide the English sheet in the midst of the others, and she curses herself for even trying when he opens his big fat grinning mouth.

"How about we start with English?" He says with the biggest grin. "I couldn't help but notice how you struggled during the class, but you kept refusing my help."

"Yeah, well…" She starts, trying desperately to get out of the sinkhole. "I just… I'm not good with English."

"I can tell." He says casually, the grin still intact, as he reaches forward and grabs the sheet to see the small amount of attempted answers she filled in during class. Slightly shaking his head, he grabs an eraser from his bag. "These are some very… _unqualified_ answers, my dear pumpkin." He says before going into lecture mode. "A pronoun is a word that can function by itself as a noun phrase and that refers either to the participants in the discourse or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse, whereas a noun is used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things, or to name a particular one."

"Whatever you say." Katelyn says with a shrug as Eddward begins rubbing the eraser all over her homework, getting rid of all the wrong answers before handing the sheet back to her.

"Now, why don't you explain to me what you're having trouble with?" He says.

"I thought that was obvious." She says, looking down at the sheet, ignoring the chuckle that escapes the other.

"Pumpkin, I do not mean to make fun of you." He says, fighting the chuckles that escape him. "Truly, I don't. I merely wish to help you, but that is rather hard to do when you don't tell me what the main issue is."

"Fine!" She says loudly, giving up on him leaving the matter alone and allows him to explain the facts that she's misunderstood or missed altogether.

They sit there for a good 30 minutes, Eddward explaining the different rules and directions to take in the English language. He's actually rather patient with her, even if she really has about no idea what he's talking about most of the time. Once the English sheet is over and done with she lets a loud sigh of relief out, drawing an amused chuckle out of Eddward. They then settle in with the worksheets they've gotten from the other lessons, the lessons she's not struggling with, such as the algebra and calculus – those are a piece of cake to her – not to mention the robotics class.

As they reach the 1 hour mark on the clock, Katelyn's phone starts to vibrate in her pocket. She pulls it out and sees that it is her mother calling her, probably wondering where she is at. Letting out a deep sigh, she answers the phone while getting her stuff together.

"Hi mom." She says, doing her best to sound as normal as possible.

"_Honey, where are you?"_

"I'm at Eddward's." She says as she puts her bag on the table to put her tings in it. Eddward, having catched the drift, begins putting his stuff away as well.

"_Eddward? Is that a friend or…?"_

"He's a friend. We decided to go to his place and start on our homework."

"_Alright, well… could you come home please?"_

"Already on my way."

"_Okay, good. We just got worried when we noticed you weren't home."_

"You didn't notice until now?" She asks, stopping in her movement, catching Eddward's attention.

"_Katelyn-"_

"Sorry, sorry! I'm just getting my things in my bag and then I'll be on my way, okay. It's literally across the street, I won't be that long."

"_Alright. Bye."_

"Bye."

She hangs up and lets out a sigh before continuing packing her stuff to get ready to leave. Once her stuff is securely in her bag she heads into the living room, to the front door, to put on her shoes and jacket. All the while Eddward follows her silently, obviously curious but not rude enough to start asking a bunch of questions. She appreciates that.

"Well... at least we got the English sheet over with." She says as she stands up from putting on her shoes, trying her best to give a smile, but eventually gives up and just sighs. "Thanks for helping me with it."

"No problem pumpkin." He says back, not quite able to smile himself. "I will see you tomorrow? Same place as this morning?"

Looking up at him with big surprised eyes, it takes her a moment to understand what he means, but when she does she can't help the smile that grows on her face. "Yeah. Totally!"

And with that settled they depart. Eddward opens the door for her and waves her off; remaining by the door to make sure his ginger friend makes it home safely. Once she's by her own door she turns around and waves back at him before entering her home and Eddward retreats into his own. His mother doesn't come home for another hour and apologizes profusely to him when she does as there had been a slight misunderstanding with the schedule and some of the colleagues didn't show up until now. When she hears that "Kevin" had been over – finally – she laments the fact that she didn't get to meet the young boy.

"You just have to bring him over more times! I would love to meet him!" She says, giving her son a big hug for the fact that he brought someone over. "He really does sound like a fine young man to be friends with. I am so happy for you!"

"He is mother, he really is." Eddward says, hugging his mother back. "He was a little saddened, I have to say, when he found out you weren't home and that he wasn't going to meet you today."

"What a little sweetie! You simply must invite him over someday!"

"I will mother, I will."

As his mother lets him go from her hug she heads over to the kitchen to get the supper ready for the two of them. Thinking back at the event that took place not too long ago, right outside of Kevin's house… the loud arguing and shouting that made the little ginger visibly cringe and try to hide away from...

He looks out the window and across the street to where the said house is. No loud voices can be heard from it; however that itself doesn't mean there is peace and quiet within the walls. That thought causes the knot in his guts to tug at him, making him flinch. He looks away from the house and towards his mother, who is calmly and happily preparing their meal wile humming on a familiar tune. He's never had more than one parent, so he has nothing to really compare to when it comes to living with both a mother _and_ a father, or even siblings. Though, as far as he's aware, neither does Kevin. If that is for the better or the worse is something that's yet to be decided. Maybe it's for the worse, since he doesn't have anyone who truly knows what's going on in his home but himself? Someone who truly understands… that you can talk to…

"Eddward?" His mother's voice carefully rings in the kitchen. "Is something wrong, dear?"

"No, I just…" He starts, before letting out a deep breath. "Why do you ask?"

"You're in deep thought." She says. "You're always in deep thought when there's something heavy on your mind. Did something happen at school today? To Kevin? Is he alright?" She asks as she gets more worried. Ever since she heard what happened to poor little Kevin she's been devastated, even contacting the school's principle to make sure they won't let this matter slip away – even if it's not about her own kid. She did try and contact Kevin's parents, but they didn't want anything to do with her. Probably thought she was a reporter or something like that.

"He is fine, mother. Nothing happened… at school."

She blinks for a moment while registering her son's words. "Okay…" She says, turning away from the countertop to look more directly at him. "What happened then, if nothing happened at school?"

"We, uh…" Eddward starts but stops himself before continuing after he collected his thoughts. "We left school and walked home together. When we reached the cul-de-sac we could hear a loud argument coming from one of the houses…" He pauses and looks at his mother who seems to be trying to follow where he's going. "It was coming from Kevin's house. And it was… it was such a heated argument that you could hear it from the other side of the neighborhood." He stops for another moment, allowing his mother to say something in between.

"How did Kevin react to that?" She asks carefully. "Surely he must've been surprised to hear his parents arguing to such an extent."

"That's the thing, mother, he wasn't. If anything he seemed ashamed and embarrassed that I witnessed it, as if it's an occurring thing that happens in their home." At that she gasps, and Eddward continues. "I didn't know what to do, so I invited him over. I guess I just wanted to get him out of there."

They remain silent for a moment before his mother speaks up again, clearly moved by the things her son has told her. "Oh dear…" She says softly while looking out the window to the house across the street. "Well… we do not know why they are arguing nor have trouble within their marriage…" She then looks back at her son, slightly teary-eyed. "Oh, but Eddward, you simply must bring him over more often if that's the home situation he's faced with! We may not be able to provide with much, but at least we can offer him somewhere to go if it becomes too much for him to handle."

With a smile appearing on his face, Eddward nods to his mother. "Yes, of course!"

"Splendid!" She smiles back at him and claps her hands together as she always does when she figures something out. "And while you do that, I will try and get a spare key made for him, so that he can come and go as he pleases, even if we're not home."

Slightly surprised by his mother's words, he can't help the smile and nod that she manages to drag out of him by saying them. "Why, of course, mother!"

"Right! Now let's go and get that supper ready!"

And with that the two of them enter the kitchen again to continue what his mother started preparing for the two of them. Nothing to fancy as it is indeed early evening. A couple of sandwiches and a salad that's very delicious as there are no leftovers from it once they've finished eating.

The very next day Eddward gets up early, like he had yesterday, and prepares himself for school. He can't help but think back to the obvious look of shame on Kevin's face when they were standing in front of his house, as if Eddward had just discovered the darkest secret the little ginger had sworn to take to his grave. How often is it that they argue? Is it every day or every other day? Once a week or once a month? He doesn't know, and that is the most frustrating part. Eddward is used to have a great amount of knowledge about many different things, however when it comes to other humans and connections such as friendships, he falls flat. He has no idea what to do, or how to help his friend who is clearly in need of… of… of something. Groaning loudly at himself, Eddward shakes his head at how little he truly knows about this situation. He knows that Kevin needs help – if his mother's reaction and words were anything to go by – but he has no idea how or what or _how_. How can someone be of service, or use, when they have no idea what to do?

Once he's done getting dressed in his usual attire; that being the slim black jeans, red t-shirt underneath his leather jacket, the dog tags and his beanie covering his head, he heads downstairs to get some breakfast before brushing his teeth. People who brush their teeth before they eat will forever be a mystery to him – _that will just get your teeth all filthy again right after you cleaned them!_

He glances at the clock that reads 06:27. Plenty of time to get ready. He eats his breakfast in peace and quiet while his mother is still asleep. She isn't on the clock before 9:00 am, so she still has a while to sleep in. Taking the last bite of his sandwich, he washes the plate and his glass of water before drying them off and placing them back into cabinets before going to get his teeth brushed. He spends the rest of his time fixing small things throughout the house, dusting some shelves that have collected some dust during the night, watering his cactus, Jim, and making sure his schoolbag is prepared for today's lessons. Speaking of which, he has no idea what classes Kevin has over the days. Well, he know of some of them, but with him skipping school almost daily, and spending most of his time in the library when he does show up to school, he's not managed to memorize Kevin's schedule quite yet. _That'll change soon enough._

As time reaches 7:20, Eddward decides to put on his shoes. Though he knows he can make it to the meeting place in mere seconds, he doesn't feel like dragging it out when it's basically time. His mother comes down the stairs when he pulls the bag over his shoulder, drawing a surprised smile from her and a _"Have a good day sweetie!"_ when he leaves through the door.

Katelyn has just closed the door behind her when Eddward opens his. She's taking a very deep breath with her eyes closed and thus she doesn't notice him until she opens them again, finding him to be halfway across the street already. Snapping out of her thoughts she pulls on her best smile for the day and heads over to the boy waiting for her.

They greet each other, Eddward using French as usual when he does, and then they walk in comfortable silence to school, and just like yesterday people stare at them as they walk by. I guess it really must be something to be surprised by if the one and only Eddward Vincent shows up to school not just one day, but two days in a week – in a row! Though, just like yesterday, they both do their best to ignore the glances thrown in their way. When they head towards the front doors they notice a group of jocks messing around with each other. As soon as she sees them, Katelyn tenses, memories coming back from the events of two weeks ago. Though she knows no one would probably try something as stupid as that after an even such as that one happened, and with Eddward right next to her, she's still nervous. Fortunately Eddward seems to notice as he glances down at her the moment she tenses. Unfortunately the jocks notice them at that exact moment, seeing her tense and frightened features from seeing them. Surprisingly though, they seem to tense up a great deal to. Unsurprisingly though, Eddward gives them a death glare, causing them to actually back off from the entrance, while putting a hand on Katelyn's shoulder in a protective manner, as if he's silently telling them to stay away from her.

No words are being heard from the jocks as they walk by them, but there's whispers roaming the hallways of the school as they enter through the doors. And as soon as they have passed the jocks, Katelyn can hear them talking lowly to one another about the two of them, just bits and pieces such as; "So the little nerd is back?", "That's crazy!", "I thought he died!", "Didn't he have internal bleeding or something?", "Yeah man! How do you recover from that?", "You think he faked it?", "Maybe?", "There were witnesses though…", "Yeah, I don't think he could've faked it even if he wanted to.", "Still can't believe John did that…" and so on. It causes a knot to form in her guts, and she is very grateful of the fact that Eddward is walking by her side for the moment. She honestly doesn't know if she would've been able to walk passed them on her own.

No… definitely not.

Heading towards their lockers, they stop by Katelyn's first like they did yesterday, and it is at that moment where Katelyn remembers something important. She face palms herself loudly at her open locker, causing Eddward to raise an eyebrow at her. Letting out a loud frustrated groan she pushes her schoolbag into the locker and closes it unceremoniously, causing Eddward to just further raise his eyebrow at her.

"Is something wrong, Pumpkin?" He asks.

"Yeah!" Katelyn says while rubbing her eyes frustrated. "I have PE first thing on Tuesdays, and I still managed to forget my bag with the change of clothes I prepared yesterday!" Groaning again, she begins banging her head against the locker. She only stops when a hand grabs her shoulder and holds her back from the locker.

"On the contrary, _mon petit Citrouille_, that is for the better, for I wouldn't have allowed you to participate in such grueling activities anyway."

Turning around to fully face him, she glares up at him with her fists on her hips. "What do you mean?" She says, both brows furrowed and with an irritated tone. "You don't think I can handle it?"

"Of course you can, _under normal circumstances_." Eddward says. "However for the moment you are not under normal circumstances, now are you, _Citrouille?_" A slight smirk appears on his lips as "Kevin" puffs his cheeks full of air in frustration. "And I am fairly certain that the coach will agree on that statement, and would not be surprised if he made you sit on the benches even if you did have your exchange of clothes with you."

Deflating, Katelyn lets out a sigh. "Yeah, I guess you're right…" She says, adding a small "_again_" after as she has been saying that phrase to him for a many of times over the time she's been here.

A chuckle echoes down the hallways and suddenly a hand is placed upon the cap on her head, forcing the brim to cover her face more than earlier and slightly mess up her glasses. Grabbing the brim and holding it up, she looks up to see a grinning Eddward looking down at her, playful mischief written all over his face as he begins rubbing the hat. Now that she finally has some hair – still not more than what can be seen as "boyish", but enough to actually see the color of it – the chance to mess with it has returned. Not that he can do that much with it, as it is still too short for her to even get "morning hair". But he still seems to be trying.

They eventually makes their way to the locker room, waiting for everyone to get ready before leaving everyone together at once – like mentioned earlier; the coach doesn't like when students come one at a time, he wants them all to come at once. Why that is the case remains a mystery. Anyway, as soon as everyone has made it into the gym it doesn't take very long for the coach to notice her and Eddward, standing somewhat next to each other.

"What are you doing here?" He asks in his loud and demanding voice while pointing at Eddward.

"I am here to make sure that Kevin doesn't attempt to participate in today's PE class." Eddward answers without any stuttering, obviously used to his shouting. "I do hope you understand."

The coach's eyes grow large at Eddward's words and immediately stare at Katelyn. "You where planning on partaking?!" He barks out, not in anger, but rather chock that she would even think of such a thing.

Flinching at the loud voice, Katelyn looks at the man and tries her best to answer. "W-well… yes…?" She shrugs uncertainly, hoping for the best. "I-I just forgot my clothes at home-"

"You might as well have slept in, cuz' ain't no way I'm planning on letting you partake any time soon." The man says sternly.

"Wh-what?" Katelyn stutters out. "B-but why? I'm fine! I was sent home from the hospital the same afternoon!"

"I don't care." The coach says. "Just because you're not hospitalized doesn't mean you're fine, it just means you don't need 24hour care. Now, I am no expert when it comes to internal damage, but I do know that they can take up to weeks before fully healed. That being said; you're not gonna be attending PE for at least three weeks." Seeing the exasperated expression on "Kevin's" face the coach sighs before adding. "Look, if you don't like the idea of being here without being allowed to partake, I'll let you go off to the library and study or homework, or whatever."

"_What?!_" A guy in the class shouts out, clearly not happy about what the coach just said. "You're just gonna let him _walk off?!_ What kind of _bull_ is that?!" He eventually makes his way up to the coach to yell some more in his face. "Why do we have to be here if he's allowed to go do whatever he wants?!"

"Because none of you have internal damage!" The coach roars back the guy, effectively silencing him. "Not to mention that unlike you he is a _trustworthy_ kid that doesn't cause a ruckus as soon as he can! Now get back to your spot!" With that, the guy returns to his spot with the tail between his legs. Once he's back the coach turns back to lock his eyes with Eddward. "Eddward. Make yourself useful and escort Kevin to the library. And make sure he remains there during PE for the next three weeks."

"Of course." Eddward says, nodding at the man's words before placing his hand on "Kevin's" shoulder and leads him back out to the locker room and eventually out in the hallway again. Once they're out in the hallway Eddward let's go and grins down at the little ginger. "What did I tell you?"

Simply shaking her head at the whole situation, Katelyn ignores the grin as best she can and starts heading down towards the library with Eddward right on her tail. A soft "Pumpkin" can be heard chuckled out as he follows her, fully aware that "Kevin" is ignoring him.

The librarian gives them a smile when they arrive, almost as if she knows what the coach told them… wait, does she? Teachers have phones in their classrooms/offices right? Did he call her? Katelyn doesn't have much time to think about this when she sees Eddward walking up to her and explaining it all to her, how they've been told by the coach to be here for the PE classes the next three weeks, in case she wonders or asks. She gives Katelyn a very sympathetic smile after Eddward's done explaining their presence to her, and Katelyn slowly feels like dying isn't such a bad thing right now, especially since Eddward is still sporting that grin of his. The bell eventually rings, telling everyone that the school day has started.

They spend their time in the library being actually good students and works on the homework that they didn't manage to complete yesterday. And with that I naturally mean; Eddward noticed that some of Katelyn's homework has yet to be done and "offered" to help with it. And with that I mean he nagged her about it until she caved in. When the bell rings again as the first period ends, they pack their things again and heads towards the second period, even making it there before anyone else, since they're all still probably changing from the PE clothes. Just as the bell rings again the rest of the class rushes in – or, at least the students that care about being on time. And thus, the second period begins: _Literature._ She swears Eddward is giving her some very knowing smirks from learning about her difficulties with English alone. Just how much worse is it with literature? Well… you don't want to know. Actually it isn't that bad. English is worse since it's all about grammar and such, and that's what she really hates. Literature is fun since the teacher is fun – a pattern maybe? – and allows them to write stories or poems of their own when they don't have anything major to do during the classes, or read a book if you have one, and she prefers essays over actual tests, which is something Katelyn prefers to. All in all; _Literature is not as bad as English._

The bell rings much too soon – _when does a student ever say that?_ – forcing them to pack their things and get ready for the third period; Programming, another one of her favorites, and surprisingly a class that Eddward seem to be looking forward to as well. As they enter the classroom the teacher looks up from his desk and as soon as he sees "Kevin" walk in a look of joy and relief can be seen on the teacher's face.

"Oh you're back!" The man says from his desk, a smile on his face.

"I'm back!" Katelyn answers with a smile of her own.

"That's great news! I was worried when I heard you were taken to the hospital." The man says before noticing that Eddward is there to. "Oh, and you're here to! How are you doing?"

"I am just fine, thank you sir." Eddward smiles to the man before having his seat by the wall. "I merely wanted to accompany Kevin to his classes, to make sure everything is alright with him."

"That's… good to hear." The man says, a little hesitant at what Eddward said. "Is there something that I should know about?" He asks carefully. "You don't need to tell me, but you're absolutely more than welcome to if you want. I'll do what I can to help you."

An awkward/embarrassed flush starts appearing on Katelyn's face. "N-no! I'm fine! We're fine!" She says hurriedly before having a seat next to Eddward, ignoring the pointed look he's giving her. "We're- we're fine!"

"Okay… if you're absolutely sure." The man says, sensing the tense air around them and decides not to push it too far. The class is about to start anyway so there's no real way for them to talk and not have anyone hear.

The last student eventually makes his way into the classroom just as the warning bell rings and the class begins. Though none of the other students in the classroom might be able to tell, Katelyn can't help but notice the way both Eddward and the teacher is looking at her during the class. The teacher is worried, obviously, about the wellbeing of one of his students, while Eddward… is more than likely disappointed and/or worried himself over the face that she didn't say anything to the teacher. Why would she though? It would just make him worry more, and maybe even try to talk to the principle about the whole ordeal – which has already been dealt with – and who knows, maybe he'd try and keep a close eye on her to? She doesn't need that. One bodyguard is more than enough! Though right as lunch rings in, she is reminded that she doesn't have one bodyguard, but _TWO!_

"_Cutie Patotie! Double Delish!_"_ yeah, you called it. _

While Eddward visibly cringes at the sound of those words being called out by that voice, Katelyn can't help but chuckle at his dismay. "Hey Nat!" She calls out as she turns around towards the teal headed teen. A hand on her arm grabs her attention back towards Eddward before Nat makes his way up to them.

"Kevin, I _implore_ you, let's take our leave, _now!_" Eddward says, almost appearing desperate to get away from the approaching teen.

"_Hmmm~_" Katelyn hums, pretending to think about it while also letting Nat catch up to them, much to Eddward's chagrin.

They end up spending the lunch sitting with Nat at their "abandoned" table as he completely ignores the unwritten rule about the tables' different ranks and who's to sit where. While Eddward appear to be doing what he can to not smack the teal head at every single nickname he calls him, Katelyn sits back and just enjoys the moment with her two friends, watching them interact with one another though one of them can barely stand the other… _that kind of reminds me of someone…_ Katelyn thinks for herself before trying to picture how things would turn out if Rave ever was to meet someone like Nat, or Nat himself for that matter. Knowing the other teen he would not be as nice as Eddward and remain silent during Nat's name calling, or whatever he calls it, and would most likely lash out at the other. Nazz on the other hand… might actually find amusement in his behavior. Yeah, most likely – she always appeared to have a somewhat similar sense of humor as Katelyn. That's what helped the two to bond overtime after all.

"What are you thinking about cutie?" Nat suddenly asks, pulling her out of her own head. "Are you thinking about me? Why, oh darling, I'm _flattered!_"

Allowing her giggle to escape her, she thinks for a moment before she answers him. "In a way, yes, I was." She says without any other context.

"Really?" Both Nat and Eddward ask at the same time, just as chocked as the other, which merely causes Katelyn to chuckle.

"Yeah." She says. "I was thinking about two friends and how they would probably react to meeting you."

"Interesting. And what are those two friends like, if I may ask about them cutie?" Nat says, leaning closer with his elbows on the table and his head resting in his hands, like a kid listening to their favorite fairytale. He listens to her description of Nazz and Rave and their different personalities; all the while Eddward remains silent, listening as well.

"I guess you could say Rave kind of reminds you of Eddward, in a way." She says with a shrug. "But he would definitely not keep his tongue in check if someone were to call him names. He's not afraid to be rude, let me tell ya."

"_Ooooohh~ _he sounds like someone I'd like to meet~" Nat gleams with excitement.

"I had a feeling you would say that." Katelyn smiles at him.

"Well then, is there any way that could be arranged, cutie?"

"Maybe. They do live in Lemon Brook so they would have to stay over a couple of days." She says, thinking about it. "Over a weekend, maybe? I'm gonna have to check with them first."

"Why of course, darling!" Nat says with a smile that would put the Cheshire cat to shame. "Just make sure to let me know as soon as possible! I can even help with sleeping arrangements if you want!"

"Of course you would." Eddward says while rolling his eyes at the other, but naturally, Nathan doesn't take it to heart and is merely spurred on by it.

"_Aww~ _jealous?"

"Hardly."

_Yep, sounds like Rave alright._

At that thought Katelyn couldn't help herself as she started giggling, which turned into laughter for a few moments, over the incredible resemblance between the two teens who haven't even met. Nathan and Eddward stop talking for a moment and simply watch the laughing ginger.

Lunch eventually rings out and it is time for the students to get ready for the fifth period. Getting their trays disposed of, they depart from Nathan and heads towards the classroom for the fifth period of the day; French. It's not because of Eddward being French and speaking French, no! She's just always been interested in learning French since she got to meet that one French nurse who would occasionally speak French to herself of her patients. Eddward being French is just pure darn coincidence! That doesn't stop the grin that's plastered on his face once he realizes what the next class is, and though she does her best to ignore him, he still manages to make it known to her that he is well beyond pleased with himself over this one choice of language. With two full periods left to deal with that kind of self confident and self pleased Eddward, she doesn't know if she's going to survive.

"Learning French for my sake, _Citrouille?_" He asks, beaming his grin in her face as they sit down.

"You wish." She says before the teacher starts the lesson, effectively ending their conversation, but not the prideful grin on Eddward's face. _Final bell, please ring soon!_

* * *

_This chapter was a pain to name… _


	10. Chapter 10

_You can't spell __**Citrouille**__ without __**Oui**__. _

* * *

**Chapter 10**

_Crazy Concern_

"Swim practice?"

"_Oui._"

"…_and_ you're competing in swimming meets, for this school…?"

"_Oui._"

There's a moment of silence between the two as Kevin is processing the information Eddward just shared with him. Something that the little ginger wasn't aware of up until just now – the second day of Eddward following him around during school – is that Eddward is in fact on the swim team, and not only that, but he's the captain of said team and takes his role quite seriously. That being said: he _always_ attends their swim practices and their swim meets, meaning that sometimes, when Kevin thinks Eddward is skipping out on school, and thus walks home alone, Eddward has actually been present for swim practice.

_How this is something that's managed to go unnoticed by the little ginger is something neither of them know, it just sort of happened… but at least now he knows. _

Still remaining silent for a moment, Eddward observes the different ways Kevin's confused face changes slightly while he's working on understanding it all – how he never noticed, why Eddward never said anything (honestly, why?), and why he decided to mention it right now as they're currently standing by Kevin's locker, getting ready to go home for the day, as Kevin was getting ready to go home until Eddward mentioned something about a swim meet that's going to be held here at Peach Creek High sometime next month.

They remain standing in silent for a while, drawing the attention from a couple of passerby's, while Eddward is waiting for Kevin to respond to his question about attending the swim meet. It's actually part of the plan he and his mother has somewhat worked on together, to give the little ginger nerd the spare key they have made for him and to get his mother and him to meet finally, as his mother had put it. The plan is that Eddward will invite Kevin to the next swim meet – which he just did – where his mother will make sure to meet the little ginger at their seats. Then they're going to go to the Vincent's residence, where they will celebrate the obvious victory Eddward will serve them. Once there, Eddward's mother will not only get to know Kevin better, but will present him the key they've made for him, so that he really can come and go as he pleases. All in all, it's a simple plan to put in motion… but it can't _get_ into motion if a certain little redhead doesn't speak up soon.

The way Kevin still hasn't answered Eddward's invitation is starting to bug the swimmer – not in the annoying way, but rather the concerning way. Watching Kevin a little closer, Eddward is able to take in the overall tired look that the smaller teen is currently wearing, like he hasn't slept well in a couple of days – and who's to say he hasn't? Or maybe he's gotten sick? After all, being at school is enough to put you in the risk of catching something. With these thoughts in mind, Eddward reaches out to place his hand on Kevin's forehead, effectively snapping the ginger out of his own thoughts.

"E-Eddward?"

"Are you unwell?"

"W-what?" Kevin says and shakes his head a little, forcing Eddward's hand to retreat. "Why do you ask?"

"You've failed to answer a simple question for quite some time now. One would find such an odd behavior as a sign that you might be ill." Eddward says matter-of-factly as he keeps observing Kevin's face. "So – are you unwell, Kevin?"

"I'm fine!" Kevin says and turns his back towards Eddward to reach into his locker and grab the remaining books he will need for his homework before closing the locker door. Once the locker is closed he must've noticed that Eddward hasn't said anything to him, as he's still waiting for an answer. Scratching the back of his head, he peaks over his shoulder to look at him. "What was the question again?" Naturally, that wasn't what Eddward wanted to hear, and thus, he reaches out – catching Kevin off guard – to place his hand on the ginger's forehead again. "Eddward! I told you, I'm not sick!"

"One could beg to differ, Pumpkin." Eddward says while keeping his hand firmly placed on Kevin's forehead as the ginger childishly grabs at him, trying to get the hand off of his face. After a moment of "battling" one another, Eddward retrieves his hand, ignoring Kevin's annoyed glare. "You do not appear to have a fever-"

"Told you!"

"-however, that does not mean you're not ill. Do you have any symptoms, such as nausea or a headache of some sort?"

"Actually, yeah! I _do_ have a headache! It's standing right in front of me!"

"Honestly Pumpkin-"

"_Honestly_ Eddward, I'm fine!" Kevin says, dropping the act and turning more serious. "Why are you so worried about that anyway?"

"Am I not allowed to worry about my friend's wellbeing?"

"Of course you are! It's just getting a little ridiculous at this point."

At this Eddward furrows his brows. It is true that he isn't really an expert on what's normal behavior within a friendship, being somewhat of an aloof character throughout his life, so it is fully possible that he is being a little excessive about Kevin's wellbeing – especially after the whole thing with him being hospitalized, both from cancer and internal bleeding.

He furrows his brows further, which catches Kevin's attention and making him notice the sudden difference in the taller teen's behavior. Raising his own brows in surprise he reaches out and grabs Eddward's arm carefully.

"Are _you_ ok?" He asks, snapping Eddward out of his thoughts.

"Excuse me?"

"Nevermind _my_ wellbeing, what about _yours?_"

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean! You just asked me that question not five seconds ago!"

Blinking a few times at Kevin's statement, he can't help the chuckle that escapes him as he realizes the loop they've effectively put themselves in. _There is no end to this cycle of questions, is there? _Kevin, in the meantime, can't do much other but to look at Eddward's laughing form with great concern… _and possibly a little bit of fear._ _It's okay to be a little afraid of someone laughing randomly, right? __Yeah, of course! It has to be… hopefully…_

"_Oh mon dieu, il n'y a pas de fin à ce cycle, n'est-ce pas?_" Eddward says as he manages to get his laughing under control.

"Huh?"

"What an astounding cycle we've made for ourselves." Eddward says and smiles down at the little ginger. "How about we simply accept the answer we receive when we ask about our wellbeing, instead of attempting to investigate further?"

"Uh… s-sure…"

"Also, you really should pay more attention in your French classes, _Citrouille_."

"Hey!"

"And you have yet to answer my question."

Puffing his cheeks full of air, Kevin glares at Eddward's smirk. "I would, if you'd be so kind as to repeat it again!"

"Very well." Eddward's smirk grows bigger at his answer, making Kevin glare harder. "Would you like to come to the next swim meet? I can get you a ticket for you to go, and no, that would not be any trouble, Pumpkin."

"Well…" As he grows quiet for a while, thinking about it, Eddward can't help but feel a little worried that he might say 'no'. "When is it? What date and time?"

"September 5th, at about 4 pm. It's a Saturday."

Kevin grows quiet for a moment again, making Eddward worried again, before he answers. "I don't think there will be a problem with that… so, yeah, sure! I'll go!"

"Splendid!" Eddward smiles brightly. "I'll let you know when I have a ticket for you. Again; no, it's no problem, Pumpkin."

Kevin does not seem to buy that statement, given the expression that's currently decorating his face. However, as Eddward stands up straighter, the expression soon vanishes, signaling the fact that the little ginger drops the matter – for the moment.

"I really must be going now." Eddward says. "Even though I'm never late for practice, the coach will have my head if I am."

"You have practice today?"

"_Oui_."

"…can I come and watch… or is that not allowed?"

Raising an eyebrow, Eddward looks at Kevin for a moment. "Of course you may." He says before smirking proudly. "It's not that rare for someone to come and watch the _Shark_ swim, after all. No matter how much they hate me."

With that settled Eddward walks towards the natatorium's locker rooms with Kevin by his side. He is curious about why the little ginger decided to tag along for his swim practice, but he'd feel very rude if he were to ask. And so, he drops it.

Entering the locker room to the natatorium is basically the same as entering the locker room for when you're heading towards PE class. Only difference is that here you have your very own personal locker, and you always swim for this exercise. Other than that, there isn't that much difference. The coach is the same, meaning Kevin will have to wait for Eddward to finish changing into his swimwear – along with the other male swimmers who where there already when they came – before they're allowed to go in to the pool, and for some reason, Eddward can't help but feel like Kevin didn't take this into consideration before asking about coming with him.

As he turned around to talk some to the little ginger, to pass the time, he couldn't help but notice how said ginger had managed to edge his small form into a corner of the room between the wall and a row of lockers, his face covered by his hands, as if he attempted to hide himself from something, or rather, _someone_. Standing in nothing but his black boxers, socks, and beanie, _as he turned around while getting changed_, he stares at the smaller teen for a moment before deciding to walk up to him.

In the meantime, Katelyn is currently yelling at herself for being too stupid as to not make the connections between swim practice and extremely awkward locker room moment. It hadn't clicked in her mind what being in the locker room with a bunch of male swimmers meant until she saw Eddward removing his jacket and then his shirt before placing the garments in his locker, and by then it was already too late. He wouldn't just notice if she left, he would ask her why she did, as he is currently expecting her to be there since she's the one who asked to tag along.

Backing into a corner, behind a row of lockers to hopefully obscure her line of vision, she berated herself over and over again for being as stupid as she is. She closes her eyes and covers her face with her hands to hopefully hide the burning cheeks that are currently hurting from how awkward this situation is. If only the toilets weren't already occupied! Then she would've been able to hide in one of them! Unfortunately for her, this is merely the beginning.

"Is something wrong, Pumpkin?"

Snapping her eyes open and lifting her head from her hands automatically, to pay attention to the person who just spoke to her, she regretfully gets to see a little too much than what's considered comfortable.

Standing right in front of her is Eddward… a very _bare_ Eddward. During her time in the corner, hiding from everyone, he has managed to strip down so that he's currently only dressed in his beanie, boxers and socks – all black, by the way – and also a concerned expression on his face as he looks down at her. With her already burning face being set aflame even more, she quickly buries her face in her hands once more while doing everything she can to come up with something to say to him… _she really is trying, believe me._

"Pumpkin?" Eddward asks again.

"'M FNE! Vrry, vry fin!" She mumbles loudly out through her hands, causing it to get quiet for a moment. Thinking the danger is over she lets out a breath… only to be set on edge again.

"Kevin?" Eddward almost sound closer than before, drawing her to peek through her fingers only to confirm the suspicion.

Taking a very deep breath, she closes her eyes and removes her hands. "Shouldn't you get ready for practice?" She asks with a big smile and her eyes still shut tight.

Silent as he is, with from what she can tell with her eyes closed, Eddward returns to his locker to finish changing into his practice outfit. The sound of shuffling can be heard coming from right in front of her, as well as around in the locker room given the other swimmers getting themselves ready. After a few minutes though, the sound of a door being opened draws her attention and she looks up from her hands. A guy in swim pants – very tight swim pants – exits one of the toilet stalls, leaving it wide open for someone to run and seek shelter in. A wave of determination washes over her and she starts moving to go and claim the sanctuary that's been offered to her… only to be just a tad too late as Eddward suddenly leaves his locker and heads right over to the stall and closes the door after him, completely unaware that he left her hanging. He doesn't stay in there for very long though. After a couple of seconds, maybe a minute, he exits the stall again, and it's at that moment where Katelyn notice he's not wearing his beanie, but rather a swim cap. She watches as he walks back to his locker and gently tosses his beanie in before she realizes that he too is wearing a pair of those tight swim pants, and thus, she forces her eyes to look elsewhere. He doesn't seem to notice, which might actually be for the best.

After a few minutes the rest of the swimmers are done getting ready for practice, and they leave the locker room to get out to the school's natatorium. The scent of chlorine strikes her like it did the first time she went through this door, but this time, she's more prepared for it – not to mention that she's not under the same level of stress that she was then.

The coach is standing by the long side of the pool, checking off things on a checkerboard before he looks up to see who's there contra who's not, and immediately he locks eyes with Katelyn. His eyes are filled with confusion and questions; however, he soon calms down as he realizes she's not dressed to swim, and eventually turns his attention back to the swim team. He looks them over for a short moment before cutting their chatter off with a sharp blow to his whistle. The loud whistle doesn't just cut the chatter off sharply, but also makes everyone extremely aware of the fact that they have ears. _Painfully aware_.

"Alright!" He calls out as soon as everyone is quiet. "It's 'bout time you got here! We're gonna start with a round of breaststrokes then freestyle and finally butterfly strokes. You're gonna have to make sure to push yourselves so that you're in top form for the next swim meet, so _get in the pool!_"

As sudden as his loud voice was, it leaves just as suddenly and the swim team heads right on to get into the pool. Eddward glances at her for a quick moment before diving into the pool himself, leaving her standing there awkwardly while being observed by the coach. Chancing to give him a small smile, she then immediately heads over to the bleachers to sit down and watch. She has no idea how long this practice session is going to be… or how long any of them are. They have to be the same, right? Like classes. Yeah.

Scratching her head for a moment, she eventually surrenders to boredom – even if watching these male swimmers is something other girls seem to enjoy as more and more starts to appear at the pool to cheer – and starts searching her backpack for some of her homework. If she's going to sit here and basically do nothing, she might as well be productive about it. The cheers from the other girls draw her attention from time to time, when it's peaking at certain "important" moments and such. She tries not to let her attention get away from her, but it's harder than she thought it would be… especially when the girls notice her.

"Hey…" A sad and thin voice says to her. She looks up to find a few girls standing in front of her, looking a little unsure as to what they're doing but at the same time to concerned to not do anything… if that makes sense?

"Hey…?" She answers.

"You're the kid who was sent to the hospital, right?" One of the girls says. _Good grief…_

"Ah-! Yeah… but-"

"We just noticed you sitting here." Girl 2 says. "And we wanted to make sure you're okay."

"Yeah… especially since… you know." Girl 3 says, looking a little nervous all of a sudden.

"Since… what?" Katelyn asks, ignoring the feeling in her guts that tells her she does know what they're referring to.

They look at each other, sharing the same expressions of discomfort and worry between them, which only further pokes the feeling in her guts that keep telling her that she knows where this is eventually going. She kills a sigh and looks at them, putting her homework down for a moment and stands up before any of them can say anything that will make them seem heartless.

"You're referring to Eddward, right?" She asks, resulting in looks of pure chock and terror among them. _Yep… they sure are…_ A sigh escapes her, making them all flinch.

"We're just worried!" Girl 2 says. "S-sorry if we offended you."

"You didn't." Katelyn says. "You didn't offend _me_." Her words make them go quiet for a moment, allowing her to continue. "I just… don't understand why everyone thinks so little of him? Can you answer me that?"

"Well…" Girl 1 starts, but gets interrupted by girl 3.

"It's because he's dangerous!"

The girls nod in agreement to each other, making her feel ill. "Have any of you actually talked to him?" She asks, making them go quiet again. _Didn't think so. _"What has he done to you that make you fear him? Why are you all so afraid of him? Why does everyone hate him?"

Again, they're silent… for a moment. "Well, how come you trust him when no one else does?" Girl 3 asks, slightly aggressive.

"Because he's nice?" She answers without any hesitation. And just like that, the girls laugh. They laugh loudly. They're so loud in fact, that the coach marches up to them and throws them out for misbehaving. Again, Katelyn is left where she's standing, feeling absolutely awkward and uncertain about what just occurred.

From the edge of the pool, Eddward watched the scene of the group of girls approaching Kevin, starting to talk to him as if they care. They don't. No one cares about him and anyone who allows themselves to be around him, let alone calls themselves his _friend_. Amy might've been an exception, but that's merely because she and her "girl gang" hang with Nathan most of the time. As annoying as that teal headed teen is… he has a heart of a kind that most people in this school doesn't know exist. Eddward will give him that much.

The loud laughter coming from the girls made him snap out of his thoughts, the coach leaving his post at the pool to yell at them, and possibly throw them out for misbehaving, made him realize that he's allowed himself to slack off from practicing for quite a while, and in order to avoid having the man yell at him to, he pushes himself off the edge and starts swimming again. He'll talk to Kevin about what the girls said later.

Once practice is over, they head back inside the locker room to get changed and ready to go home. Kevin dashes into one of the toilet stalls and doesn't come out until Eddward knocks on the door and asks if everything is alright. A yelp was the only response before the little ginger opened the door. Though his hair has still a bit to grow out his eyebrows are back in place it would seem, as they almost glow over the reddened cheeks on the smaller teen while he tries and make it seem like nothing is wrong. Eddward doesn't buy it… but he decides not to push it, like they agreed earlier. They head on out through the school's entrance and starts on their walk home in a somewhat comfortable silence. Glancing down at his smaller friend for a few moments, Eddward tries to figure out what the girls might've said to him while at practice. Nothing he sees appears to give him any sort of hints, but that doesn't stop him from trying. He keeps glancing… and eventually gets caught in the act.

"What are you looking at?" Kevin asks with a grin, for catching him most likely.

Taking a slight step away from him, Eddward advert his eyes to elsewhere. "Nothing." He says.

"Uh-huh. Sure." Kevin grins back at him.

"…I was just… wondering something." He says.

"You're wondering what the girls said to me earlier, right?" Kevin asks and chuckles when his eyes grow in surprise.

"…I-"

"Don't you try and deny it!" Kevin smirks proudly at him. "I saw you staring at them while you took a break from swimming."

Eddward looks at him for a moment, and then lets out a sigh. "Yes." He confesses. "I did. And I do wonder about it."

"I don't blame you. I'm wondering about it too."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah… they came up to me and acted all concerned at first, and then they started hinting that they were concerned for me because of you. I asked them why they were and then one of them asked why I trust with you despite how everyone avoids and fear you, to which I answered 'Because he's nice', and then they all just started laughing."

Eddward remains silent for a while after that. Yes, he knows that Kevin considers him a friend, and that when someone does consider someone a friend, that usually means they think that person is both nice and trustworthy… but it's just weird hearing it out loud, being said in such a casual way. Is it weird that he finds that weird? Probably…

"Girls are weird." Kevin's soft and confused voice brings Eddward back from his thoughts, and the sincere confusion in his voice is enough to make the raven teen chuckle. "What? They are!" (It takes one to know one, after all.)

"As true as that statement may be, I would recommend not saying it in front of one." Eddward chuckles, not realizing he just did what he told "Kevin" not to.

They continue walking for a while, pleasantly conversing about everything and nothing at the same time. As they get closer and closer to the cul-de-sac, and eventually their respective homes, Eddward feels the need to ask something, though he's not entirely sure why or if it's even a good idea. Oh well… here goes nothing.

"Pumpkin, may I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"…Please do not take this the wrong way. I do not mean anything with it, I am merely curious as to-"

"What is it Eddward?"

He sighs. "Why do you… trust me…?" He continues carefully when Kevin doesn't answer right away. "You… _do you trust me?_" Looking down at the other, Eddward finds that Kevin seems to be in a state of chock or surprise, which would explain why he hasn't answered right away… but soon enough he does.

"Yes…" His voice lets out carefully before continuing with more force. "Yes, I do. I do trust you. And before you ask; yes, I do think you're a nice person."

Eddward looks at him with wonder and gratitude. "Thank you…" He says in such a genuine way that he can see Kevin's heart twitch from it.

"Y-you're welcome." He says. "And, you can trust in me to, you know."

"I do." Eddward says with a smile. "However… if I may; what was it that made you come to the conclusion that I could be someone to trust, when no one around you did and still doesn't?"

"Ever heard about giving someone the benefit of the doubt?" Kevin smiles. "Besides, I just got the feeling that they were all just overreacting. My granddad always says that '_It takes an outsider to see what's on the inside_', so that's what I tried to do."

"I'm glad you did. You're grandfather seem to be a wise man."

"Yeah… he's also crazy and locked in an insane asylum, but that's beside the point."

"…"

* * *

_I've started thinking about recording while I write stories, so I can upload chapters on youtube. Is that something people would actually watch, or am I just stupid?_


	11. Chapter 11

_If you had to pretend to be the opposite gender for an unknown amount of time, what would you do?_

* * *

**Chapter 11**

_Do you need a rain check?_

She was nervous, though she would never let you know that, even if you asked her. The crowd is loud and so much bigger than she thought it would be. Was this really what it was like _every time?_ Shaking her head at the mere thought of having to compete in this, she tries to understand just how Eddward is able to deal with it. Just being here and watching is beginning to be more than what she can handle, so just imagine being on the frontline, in everyone's sight and attention. Nah… she would never be able to do something like this. Nope.

Today is a Saturday, September 5th. It's getting close to 3:45pm and from what she remembers Eddward saying – and from what her ticket is saying, the meet will start at precisely 4pm. She's made it to her spot and is waiting anxiously for the meet/competition to begin so that she may go home soon. _She really doesn't like crowds…_

Time moves on slowly, letting her dive deep into her thoughts despite the fact that there are so many people – _loud people_ – around her, doing everything they can to be heard and/or seen by whomever. She thinks about the meet, how long it will be – when will it end and when can she expect being home? Eddward had let her know that she was invited to come home to him afterward, to celebrate his victory, for dinner, because _of course_ he would already announce that he was the winner of the meet, talking about it like it had already happened. A chuckle escapes her when she thinks about it. She snaps out of her thoughts momentarily as a rather loud man claims the seat next to her, to her right… or actually, the seat next to the seat to her right. The knowledge that there's a free seat right next to her causes her to frown in thought for a short moment. As she keeps her head locked in the direction of the empty seat, the man has managed to sit down and is also looking at the seat before looking up at her with an angry frown.

"Just couldn't bother to bring someone with ya?" He mutters loudly at her.

"'Scuse me?" She asks, but the man only rolls his eyes and shakes his head at her, turning away as to not look at her again.

She scrunches her nose at him for a moment before there's a loud voice echoing through the school's natatorium, claiming everyone's attention. Whoever is calling out to them is loud, and yet she can't hear what they're saying, only that it's possibly a man that's shouting at them, which in itself causes everyone to shout back. He's riling up the crowd, doing everything he can to get them pumped up before he introduces the swimmers and what school's they're from. Katelyn sit up a little straighter to get a better look at them, to see if she just so happens to recognize someone other than Eddward. It merely ends with her trying to find the one person she knows will be there. Though the announcer helps, she has to admit.

The moment Eddward walks out the announcer gets super pumped, and the crowd gets super loud – including the man next to her who's about to lift from his seat in excitement. Not wanting to get his attention upon her again, Katelyn focuses hers on Eddward, watching him walk after the swimmers before him as they're all walking in a straight line from the locker room. The stations to dive into the pool are on the other side, so they have to traverse the natatorium right by the bleachers where she's sitting. Something tells her that Eddward knew about this information, as he suddenly lifts his gaze and starts searching the crowd for a familiar face. Though she's hesitant that it's really her he's looking for, she forces herself to stand up and wave at him, helping him spot her. The moment he sees her he smiles, and he raises his hand to wave back at her, causing some of the people in the crowd – including the man next to her – to glance at her in both chock and wonder. It seems like Eddward's reputation has spread further than just this school and neighborhood.

Once the swimmers have made their way up to their stations the crowd grows silent with thrill and anticipation. The meet is about to start.

The announcer sound once again, explaining once again who's there and from what school they're from, though this time he's a lot calmer than earlier. Again, as soon as Eddward's name is sound the crowd cheers loudly. It fascinates her. To think that as soon as they see him as anything else than the swimmer that's standing right there before them, they all hate him and treats him like the plague, but as soon as he does something that earns a medal or trophy in their name then they're all for it, cheering him on and supporting him. It ties a knot in her guts to think about. Maybe that's why he's constantly trying to make sure she's ok? He worries about the one person who treats him like a normal human being other than his mother. _Oh, if only he knew…_

A loud horn shrieks in the natatorium, allowing her to snap out of her thoughts just in time to see the swimmers dive from their positions at their stations and into the pool. The competition has officially begun. Cheers are being called from the bleachers from different directions, hoping to help the swimmers on. Katelyn isn't entirely sure if it is helping as much as they think it is. More than anything, one would think it's more of a distraction.

As soon as it started, it would seem that it would end as Eddward has already reached his station on his final lap; where as everyone else has at least one or two more to go before they're done. He pulls himself up from the pool and the loud cheering voices from the crowd fill the natatorium once more. It's to be expected, especially since his opponents are so far behind – as usual, it's not a competition for the gold medal, but rather the silver. After a short moment the cheering eventually causes the beginning of a headache to form, which is something he'll never grow used to.

The Peach Creek High's coach is sitting on a chair a few feet away from his station, like the rest of the coaches are parked at their students' stations, and is in possession of the dry towel that he needs right now. As if the man could read minds, a smirk appear on his face as he stands up and meets him halfway to hand him the towel.

"You did well, son." He says with a softer smirk and pats his shoulder a few times before returning to his chair.

"Thank you." Eddward answers as he rubs his face in the towel, enjoying the feeling of a still slightly warm towel.

Once his face is dry he places the towel around his shoulders and walks up to the coach. There's a second chair right next to the coaches, meant for the swimmers once they're done, and he's aiming to sit the rest of the meet through. One by one, the rest of the other swimmers get out of the pool and heads up to their respective coach to get their respective towel and to sit on their respective chair. _Do you know about the word 'respective' yet?_ While they wait out the rest of the swimmers Eddward allows his mind to draw him away, to let his gaze wander around the pool, then the bleachers and finally the row where Kevin is currently sitting, applauding with the rest of the crowd at each of the swimmers as they complete their rounds.

It pains him to see the empty chair next to the small ginger, the seat that was originally meant for his mother. An urgent last minute call from work had forced her to cancel. When he asked her about it she didn't really give him an answer, saying that she wasn't sure herself what the matter was about, only that she apparently was needed and that she had to leave immediately. She would however be at home when they were done here, preparing the dinner for their celebration and for the final meeting with Kevin. Naturally, Kevin wasn't aware that the point was for him to meet Eddward's mother right here at the swim meet, but at this point, he didn't really need to know that. They'll still meet later tonight. He never thought that he would be working so hard just to let his mother meet another teen his age – let alone an actual friend of his – but she would literally not leave him be if he didn't. She has been so excited to finally be able to meet "_the one who helped her son where she couldn't_", and so on.

As the very last of the swimmers make his way out of the pool the announcer makes his obnoxious voice heard once more to tell everyone about Eddward's obvious victory. He works really hard to get them all riled up, Eddward will give him that. Though he's still uncertain why the decision was made to let Eddy be the announcer for this meet, or rather _how_. Then again, it's not like it's something for Eddward to be bothered about, other than the headache he's firing on.

The final announcement is finally over and done with and now's the time for the medals. The two other swimmers that managed to get the second and third place wear the facial expressions of both chock and joy at the same time. It's quite intriguing, and it draws an amused smirk out of Eddward, though it dies rather quickly when he sees who's to be handing him the golden medal. Standing in front of him with the largest grins in history, is none other than Eddy. Still short as ever, Eddward once again wonder how the decision was made to let _him_ have this position. He's quite certain that someone, somewhere, is laughing at them right now, along with some of the students on the bleachers next to them.

"Congrats Sockhead!" Eddy smirks widely at him, holding up the medal to him, ready to place it around his neck. "Bend over a lil', will ya?"

Rolling his eyes as an answer, he does what the shorter teen tells him and allows him to place the band of the medal around his neck before standing up straight again. After that Eddy moves on to do the same for the swimmer who got second place, and then finally the third. Once that's done he's back to stand in front of them, grabbing the mic and a start talking loudly into it some more before the moment of peace is finally upon them. The swim meet is over, Eddward is the sworn winner as usual and they're allowed to go home. _Yippie…_

All the swimmers are walking towards the locker room whereas the people on the bleachers hang around for a few more moments before they decide it's time to retire. Knowing that Kevin will be waiting for him, Eddward hurries himself, catching the attention from some of the other swimmers, though they're too afraid to ask him where the fire is. Once done, he packs his stuff into his bag and closes his locker before pulling out his phone. There's a text from Kevin: _"I'm waiting by the school entrance. Let me know when you're done."_ A small smile tugs at the edge of his lips as he pockets the phone and walks out the door to the hallway. Since they're currently at school on a Saturday, the hallways are completely empty, with the exception of one or two janitors waiting to clean up after everyone. None of the other people are allowed to walk through the school's halls, and are to leave through the exit at the natatorium that leads directly outside. This leads to comfortable silence as he walks through the hallways, heading towards the school's main entrance to collect his little friend.

Rounding the corner, Eddward catches Kevin looking incredibly uncomfortable as Eddy apparently has allowed himself to wait with the smaller teen. Frowning upon this discovery, he makes his way up to them, stepping into the conversation without saying a single word. As soon as he's within Kevin's view the ginger looks up at him and appears to let out a breath he's been holding in for who knows how long. Noticing the ginger's drifting attention; Eddy also looks up towards Eddward as he makes his way towards them. His reaction is slightly different though. Instead of letting a breath out, he sucks air into his mouth, as if he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Heya Sockhead!" He calls out nervously. "D-didn't think you'd be done so quick!"

"Quickly, Eddy." Eddward corrects with little to no emotion in his voice.

"A-ha! Y-yeah sure! Whatever you say!"

"Why are you stammering?" Eddward asks, knowing the shorter is trying to act casually to hide the fact he was planning on doing something bad – _and whatever that is, he tried to include Kevin._

"I-I'm not stammering!" Eddy claims as he starts taking a few steps back. "Just thought I'd let Pumpkin here have some company as he waited for ya!"

"Is that so?"

"Y-yeah!" Eddy takes more steps backwards before looking back at Kevin, his entire appearance changing once he locks eyes with the ginger. "C'ya around… _Pumpkin!_"

In the edge of his eye, Eddward can see Kevin shiver at the remark. He opens his mouth to call out to Eddy, but the other is already gone, leaving the two of them alone in the hallway. Turning towards the shivering teen, Eddward looks Kevin over, taking in the still very uncomfortable stance he has, despite the fact that Eddy has departed from them. _What did he do?_

"Kevin?" He asks, trying to sound as normal as possible, not letting the other now how utterly suspicious he is of Eddy's actions. It seems to work… or maybe it's just Kevin being too disturbed to actually hear him? "Are you alright?" He says, a little louder.

"Huh?" Kevin nearly gasps at the raised voice. He turns to look up at Eddward. "Wh-what was… what did you say?"

His frown grows. "I asked if you where alright… though I have feeling I already am aware of the answer."

At that Kevin seems to shrink in on himself. It does nothing but leaving Eddward feeling very wary. He raises his gaze, looking back at the direction Eddy left in. A need for answers tries to tell him to go after the shorter teen, but something else tells him that it wouldn't be wise to leave Kevin alone right now. Thus, he stays where he is. Gently placing a hand on the little ginger's shoulder, Eddward leads Kevin out through the entrance and down the outside stairs. They soon fall into the rhythm of walking home from school, which seems to help with calming Kevin down a little. It doesn't take long before they're talking again, about nothing and everything, just like normal. It helps calming Eddward down a notch to.

They soon arrive at the cul-de-sac, but unlike the other times where they walk together from school; they don't walk their separate ways when their homes come up. Kevin follows Eddward towards his house, slowing down just a little to let Eddward lead the way up to his front door. He opens the door and takes a step back, holding it open for the ginger.

Hearing the front door open, Ms. Victoria Vincent turns away from the cupboard where she was chopping up the last of the tomatoes for the salad. There's no other sound coming from the living room for a small moment, but then she can hear small and careful footsteps appear right before more confident ones. A friendly reminder to remove the shoes echo through the room in her son's voice and a smile appear on her face. _They're here._

She carefully puts down the knife on the cutting board and removes the apron before she steps out into the living room to finally meet the boy who has helped her son in ways she didn't even know would be possible. He's started attending school more seriously instead of hanging around the library all day, which has affectively improved his grades even more, despite the fact that they were good already thanks to him being a genius, since he's started _attending_ classes again. All in all; she's grateful, so very grateful for what this young man has done for her son, and especially since he has a very tough family situation, from what her son has told her. He really does seem like a great friend to have, and she's so happy for her son, her little Edd, to have met this boy. So happy and so grateful that she can't wait to meet him and give him a big hug and a big 'Thank you!'

"Hello there, boys!" She says with a big smile as she enters the living room, seeing her son and the bending form of another person.

"Greetings, mother." Eddward smiles at her. "Allow me to introduce you to Kevin, my friend."

Her smile grows bigger as she hears that, and she takes a few steps closer to them. "Hello there!" She says to the teenager who's working on removing his shoes. "I'm Victoria, Eddward's mother. I'm so happy to finally meet you! Eddward has told me so much about you."

"Woah, geez-" A small voice chuckles as the teenage boy places his shoes next to Eddward's before standing up straight again. "You didn't tell her anything bad, did you?" Kevin says his focus on Eddward and with a raised eyebrow.

Victoria's smile slightly wavers. All this time she's heard through Eddward that Kevin is a ginger, has freckles and that he's been through cancer, resulting in him not having any hair when they first met. She's listened to her son telling her about how Kevin is so kind and gentle, how he's really smart in the right fields, but needs help in others… how he's been someone Eddward can talk to, someone he can call his friend. Someone who accepts him despite where he's coming from… who his mother is, or _what_ she is.

She's always wanted to tell the boy 'Thank you', to let him know just how grateful she truly is for letting her son in when no one else did. She's always wanted to meet the boy who helped her son feel accepted, and not judged.

"Of course not!" Eddward says with a chuckle as he looks back at Kevin.

Victoria looks at her son for a moment, searching for something that will let her know… something. She doesn't find it. That must mean he doesn't know… that he truly believes…

"Yeah, right." Kevin says, rolling his eyes at Eddward before turning towards her, smiling shyly at her and extending his arm towards her. "I'm happy to meet you to ma'am."

Snapping out of her thoughts she smiles at Kevin, taking his hand and pulling him into her arms, giving the teen a big hug. As unexpected as it was, it clearly wasn't unwanted as she can feel the teen hug her back shortly after. After a moment she pulls away, holding the smaller teen's shoulders as she looks at her. She's always wanted to tell the teenage boy who helped her son 'Thank you', but now she realizes that she never will be able to. Instead, she's going to say it to the teenager in her arms – _**the teenage girl that's called Kevin.**_

* * *

_Yes, Eddward's mother __**does**__ have a name_


	12. Chapter 12

_There's only so much you can do when nothing makes sense anymore. _

* * *

**Chapter 12**

_I'll keep you afloat_

Eddward's mom, Victoria, was a very nice woman Katelyn came to learn very soon. Not even a full minute of being introduced to the lady and she had already pulled the teenager into her arms to give a big and comforting hug. She liked that. The woman had then held her out at an arm's length, smiling brightly at her as she looked her over with that typical mother pride in her eyes.

The lunch had been chicken fillets wrapped up in bacon, rice, sauce and a nice tasty salad with iceberg, tomatoes, cucumber and corn. Victoria and Eddward had acted like the greatest of hosts, making sure "Kevin" was well taken care of, felt wanted and appreciated. She honestly can't remember last time she had _that_ much attention. It made her feel special, which made her unsure how to feel about that, given the circumstances. After lunch Eddward put it on himself to take care of the dishes and putting the leftovers away, so that "Kevin" and Victoria could talk a little. It was a sweet gesture and the lady was really nice to talk to as well. She asked all kinds of questions that all mothers ask; what do you plan to be in the future? What are your goals? Are you making sure not to press to hard? Are you eating well? Do you have any other health issues we should know about? The list went on and on, but Katelyn couldn't find it in herself to mind. For once, none of the questions were asked in annoyance, but rather genuine concern and care. She's not saying that her parents ask her those questions with a tone of being annoyed… but rather other people that think she just pulled the whole cancer thing as a prank to get some attention. There are legit people out there who think that. You'd be surprised.

Once Eddward was done with the kitchen the trio of people moved into the living room, and that is when Katelyn truly noticed just how nice and clean their home was. Not a speck of dirt roaming any surface that she could lay her eyes on. It was close to being as sterile as a hospital, and yet not. Despite it being so clean, it was also very inviting, a home. She didn't think those two could combine as well as it had in this house.

"I have to say, you're house is really nice." She allowed herself to say as they sat down on the soft pastel blue couch in the brightly colored living room.

"Why thank you dear!" Victoria beamed. "It's mostly Eddward's work. My working hours make it quite difficult for me to uphold a repeating cleaning schedule, so he takes it upon himself to step in and help." She says with such fondness in her voice and eyes as she looks at her son and playfully tugs at a raven curl that's managed to escape the beanie.

"Mother, please." He mutters as he tries to waft his mother's hand away, only being met with giggles from both women.

Victoria leans back in her seat and watches for a moment as the two teenagers interact with each other. Eddward is as oblivious to the fact that he is indeed talking to a teenage girl and not a teenage boy that she can just about laugh at it, but then again, "Kevin" is doing a really good job not giving away any hints that will show him being a she. Her ability to keep on acting as if this is all normal is something that Victoria both finds fascinating and a bit upsetting at the same time. Fascinating in the way that she really doesn't seem to be insulted in the least over the mistake her son – and the whole school from what she knows – has made, and instead for correcting them, she merely decided to play along. What could her motive be? And that's what she can find to be a bit upsetting – What is her motive? Could it be she just wants to be a boy? Is she trying to – what do youngsters say nowadays? – _get some?_ Looking back at the teenage girl with the thick glasses and the red and black cap on her head, the nerdy outfit she has managed to craft for herself; a green long armed shirt with diamond pattern across the chest, a pair of khaki pants along with black converse. Not terrible "nerdy", but not at the top of the food chain either. She really doesn't seem to be the kind of girl to want something like that from her son either – if she did, then she's made a huge mistake. So then… what is her motivation to do this? Could it be fear? From what Eddward has told her, "Kevin" is being bullied for being a nerd, not a girl who dresses as a boy. That means the bullies doesn't know either, but if they did…

A frown forms on her forehead as the thought mere thought forms in her mind. Turning towards her son, it's impossible not to see the big smile that's on his face from talking to his friend. It gives her a sense of peace in her mind that her son has found a friend, a true one, after all this time. It makes her want to show this teenager so much more appreciation than she already has… but for that to happen… Eddward needs to leave.

"Eddward dear, could you go and see if I remembered to get the snacks from the store? I can't remember if I did."

With a nod he stands up and heads into the kitchen, returning a short while later. "I couldn't find anything, sorry." He says and Victoria fakes a sigh of disappointment aimed at herself.

"I'm so sorry Kevin, but it seems I might've goofed a little at being a host." She says as she aims to stand up from her seat on the couch. "Now, you two play along nicely and I'll get something from the store. Any recommendations?"

Kevin shakes her head. "No, I'm fine really."

"Mother, do you really think it's important?" Eddward asks, wondering slightly why his mother is so insistent about them having some snacks. They never have snacks. In return, he's given the typical "_mother knows best_" look as Victoria looks back at him.

Katelyn looks between mother and son, slightly confused over the woman's sudden interest in the mere thought of them having some snacks. It's not that important, is it? As if on cue, the woman answers her son's question.

"Eddward, how often do we have guests?" She asks which seems to be a trump card of some sort as Eddward immediately backs down.

Huh… well if they're really seen as outcasts and never really have someone over like this, then yeah, maybe they just really want to pass as good hosts to the few guests that they may have, and usually, there's some kind of desert or snack right after dinner. Okay, she understands now… she thinks.

"I understand mother." Eddward says, but as his mother takes a step forward to get ready to go to the store, he raises his hands to stop her. "I'll go. You have wanted to meet with Kevin for such a long time, so just take the time while I'm out." He then turns to Kevin, sitting on the couch still, watching mother and son interact. "Is that alright with you pumpkin?"

"U-uhm… yeah, sure. Why wouldn't it be?" Kevin replies, probably flustered over the fact that he was just called 'pumpkin' in front of Eddward's mother. Eddward would feel sorry if he was… but he's not. He just couldn't resist.

"Thank you dear." His mother smiles at him.

Watching Eddward pull on his vans and then leaving through the front door, Katelyn feel a certain dread leaving her, just to be replaced with a brand new one, as she's now left alone with a woman who thinks she's a boy. _Oh boy…_ She's just about to readjust her seat on the couch when said woman starts talking again, saying something that will truly catch her off guard.

"Well, that should keep him busy long enough, I believe."

"Huh?"

Victoria turns around and smiles gently down at Katelyn, however it does little no nothing in order to calm the drumming nerves that yells at her that something's about to go down. She takes a few steps towards her, sitting down right next to the suspicious teenager. A smile adorns her face as she looks the trembling teenager and soon a sweet chuckle escapes her from the mere frightful expression that greets her.

"Do not fret sweetie, I merely wish to talk."

"What about?"

"Well… your name, for instance." She says with such a sweet tone and such a sweet smile that it makes Katelyn even more confused. That is, until she continues. "Your name is not Kevin, is it? I find it hard to believe any mother would like to choose a boy's name for their daughter, though I could be wrong."

'_A boy's name for their daughter'…? Oh god, she knows. _

Feeling the anxiety rile up inside her, she gently holds her hands up in a sign of surrender. "O-okay… I-eh… uhm…" She stops her trembling the moment a reassuring hand lands on her shoulder, squeezing it gently.

"Sweetie, I do not mean anything bad with this. I merely wish to help you." Her smile is gentle and kind, almost believable… can she trust it? "What's your name, dear?"

Looking Victoria over quickly, she finds no reason not to trust her, thus… she answers. "Katelyn."

Victoria's smile widens, now revealing some of her white teeth. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Katelyn." She then takes her hand and gently shakes it, as if they officially met for the first time… which technically, they did.

"L-likewise." Katelyn stammers, still chocked from the confrontation.

The conversation then changes into one that can be seen as one held between a mother comforting and supporting her broken daughter. Hugs and pats on the head is being shared between the two as Katelyn slowly but surely opens up to Victoria and tells her what happened on the first day of school; how the older lady misheard her mother and started calling her Kevin in front of everyone and how she was far to chocked to actually manage to correct the mistake, and how she's been afraid ever since what will happen if people will find out the truth. She tells her how her mother had reacted when she had been sent to the hospital for internal bleeding, how she had been nothing but confused and disappointed in her daughters actions and reasoning, and how she had decided not to let Katelyn's father know about it. Through it all, Victoria sat right next to her, holding her tight while rubbing soft circles on her back, trying to comfort the girl.

"I know this might sound weird, ma'am, but I'm not sure I would've been able to deal with all of it without Eddward…" Katelyn says lowly, hoping with everything she has that Victoria is not going to misunderstand her words. "…I-it's not that I- what I meant to say is- I really appreciate your son!"

A soft chuckle is her respond. "Eddward appreciates you too, sweetie. As do I. You have helped him through things I haven't been able to. Getting him more interested and involved with school is something I've been struggling with since his first day. I cannot thank you enough for helping him take better care of his grades."

"Thank you… although I have to say that I haven't done anything, so I don't really feel like I deserve your gratitude."

"You've been by his side since the day you met." Victoria says. "Despite everything you've heard about him, about me, you've remained by his side, as his friend. That is something no one else has done without any kind of motives to either harm him or humiliate him. You're a friend, which is something I'm not sure he remembers what it is."

"Well…" Katelyn says, greatly moved by her words, but also quite disturbed by the fact that she said them. _No one else…?_ "I-I… when he first told me about… it… I mean, those fact doesn't make him any less human than anyone else is, so I just… decided to the opposite of everyone else… apparently."

A warm smile makes its way onto Victoria's face. "I thank you for that." She says and gently pets Katelyn's head.

Katelyn can't do much more other than smiling back at the friendly and gentle woman. She's practically shining with joy and appreciation. A short moment go by, merely a second or two, before the woman makes a face that she's just remembered something important. With a friendly smile she stands up and walks away from the couch, leaving Katelyn to sit alone and curious as to what the older woman is up to. She can hear her head up the stairs and into a room – her bedroom maybe? The door closes gently but opens up soon after again before being closed again, and then footsteps can be heard heading down the stairs.

Victoria makes her way back towards the couch and sits down next to Katelyn again. Feeling the teenagers growing curiosity as to why she suddenly left Victoria smiles at the girl before presenting the key she had gotten made for her. The curiosity in Katelyn's face turns into confusion as she takes the key that's given to her and looks at it more closely, trying to understand where it would allow her to go and why she would go there. She looks up at Victoria with a questioning look, hoping to get some answers from the woman.

"I…"

"Eddward told me that he'd heard your parents arguing loudly one day." Victoria says with a more serious tone in her voice. "He said that you appeared to be ashamed that he got to witness the event, as if it was something that happens on a regular basis… something that you try to hide." Her eyes fill with lament as she thinks back at the conversation she and Eddward had, had that evening. The very evening they decided upon this little plan of theirs. "I was… distraught over what he told me, that someone as sweet and kind as his dear friend had to go through so much in their life, both at school and at home. So, I had a spare key made for you, so that you can come over whenever you'd like to, or need to. If you'd want to… even if we wouldn't be home at the moment." Victoria closes her eyes for a small moment, collecting her thoughts more thoroughly before continuing. "You are more than welcome to come over if you would ever feel the need to, or if you just merely wish to. We have a spare bedroom for guests so don't be afraid to ask about spending a night or two. After everything you've been through, and everything that you've done for my son, we'd be more than happy to help you in any way we can. All you have to do is ask."

Katelyn looks at her, unable to say anything. A soft sigh escapes her, but that's the only sound she's able to make at the moment. Her sight is steadily getting more and more blurry, a sign that she's on the verge of tears. As the first tear makes its way down her cheek, she lets out a tired, desperate gasp and she allows herself to be pulled into comforting arms.

Victoria can feel the strength of her mother instinct and allows it to act, pulling Katelyn into her arms and holding her tightly, ensuring her that she won't let go of her. The shaky breaths and sudden movements from her crying and sobbing form makes the woman's heart clench in pain, inevitably causing her own set of tears to appear in her eyes. She holds the crying teenager close to her chest, where she can keep her safe from the world around them, hoping beyond hope that the girl can feel how strongly she cares about her, despite the fact that they've only recently met. A mother's instinct doesn't care about such a thing as time; it only cares about protecting what's dear to the mother. And this child, this young teenage girl, is very dear to Victoria. The harder she cries the harder Victoria's hold gets. Support, encouraging and protecting is all that's on her mind.

In the background the front door can be heard open. Eddward makes his way into his house with a small bag of snacks from the store. Removing his shoes and placing them by the door, he eventually makes his way to the living room where he left his mother and Kevin. As soon as they get into his view he stops, frozen on the spot. The soft sound of tired sobbing can be heard throughout of the house, but it's the sight that kills him the most.

His mother is holding Kevin in her arms, his small and shaking form leaning into her embrace as she appears to be doing everything in her power not to let him fall apart on the spot. When he takes a few uncertain steps closer his mother looks up at him, lament painting her smile bitter as he understands they must've talked about something rather sensitive while he was away. He sits down on the other side of Kevin, slightly behind him, but the other teenager doesn't notice. Eddward doesn't mind. Whatever has shaken the ginger it clearly is something painful. His mother smiles at him and with a soft pointing movement of her head, points to Kevin's hands. Slightly furrowed brows, Eddward leans a little closer to see what his mother is pointing at. At first all he can see is Kevin's left hand, clutching desperately at his mother, and then he sees Kevin's right hand, resting in his lap wide open. His eyes widen. The key is in his hand. Understanding dawns on him as he realizes the ginger is crying from both gratitude and pain: _Gratitude over their act, pain over the fact that they acted._

Carefully he places his hand on the smaller teen's back, gently rubbing circles with his thumb. Kevin doesn't stop crying from his act. It merely makes the ginger cry harder.

* * *

_This chapter had amazing timing in my life. A moment of a mother comforting a child who's confused and broken over something she's never asked for… and I got to see my mother for the first time in nearly two years yesterday. _

_I'd apologize for the delay, but I'm too far into the process of healing to actually mean it this time… I'm sorry. _


	13. Chapter 13

_New chapters will be posted at the last day of every month._

* * *

**Chapter 13**

_Celebrate stupidity – don't worry about concern_

There has been a visible change to Kevin's gait; calmer, lighter – joyful. It's almost a little jumpy, as if he's got a whole new type of energy source in his life. It's quite the sight once you've noticed it. To think someone would be able to gain so much pure joy from receiving a gift in the form of a key. Of course Eddward knows it's the symbol, meaning and purpose of the key that has given Kevin this brand new level of joy in his life, but it's still fascinating to him to see such a strong reaction from it. It's almost as if they've given him a safe haven of some kind… and who's to say they haven't?

Walking next to the little ginger on the way to school, Eddward allows his gaze to fall down onto the other, watching as he talks about the day ahead of them – apparently there's a test in Calculus today – and he can't help but feel a little saddened despite the other's joy. He keeps his smile on his face, just to make sure Kevin doesn't know of his train of thoughts just yet. This isn't the time to be talking about such things after all. Instead he keeps his mouth shut in a soft smile, thinking about what must be going on in the little ginger's life for him to become so overly joyful from receiving a spare key to a home that isn't his – technically – but is allowed to go to if needed or if he just wish to. The memory of seeing his mother holding Kevin's small and sobbing form in her arms returns to him right before the ones of the same little Kevin telling Eddward over and over again that he isn't looking for any kind of "pity protection" from being his friend. Just how strong is this little ginger? How determined is he to carry himself no matter what, even if he's offered help? For how long has he been forced to carry himself without anyone offering help, or even knowing there is help to get? How much longer will he be able to keep this up?

"Eddward?"

The voice of said ginger snaps him out of his mind, and he immediately realizes that his smile has faltered and turned into the look of someone who's clearly disturbed over something. Locking his eyes with Kevin's, he can see the question burning in the other's eyes but before he's able to ask it Eddward shakes his head as if to wake himself up again.

"My apologies, Pumpkin, I fear I accidentally slipped into my mind without even realizing it." He says with a voice soft as silk.

Kevin still seems rather skeptical despite his attempt to sound genuine, and just as Eddward is about to say something to him someone on a motorcycle drives past them closely. In fact, they drove right where they were walking, cutting in between them on the sidewalk, forcing them apart while managing to strike Kevin's right arm and brush against his side. A cry of pain and chock escapes the ginger as he falls to the ground with a thud. Eddward is at his side in less than a second, watching as Kevin grabs at his arm in pain.

"_Whoopsie!_" A voice cuts through the air towards them. "Sorry, I didn't see you there little nerd! Hope nothing happened to you!" The voice calls out before laughing manically at them from a little further ahead on the sidewalk.

Eddward looks up from Kevin to the person calling out to them. His blood boils as soon as he sees John's smirking form leaning against his motorcycle, snickering at their pain. Had it not been for Kevin being in the pain he is in right now, Eddward wouldn't have hesitated on beating the jock up real good for just showing his face after sending Kevin to the hospital. But Kevin is in pain, clutching tightly to his arm that may or may not be either broken or dislocated. Eddward remains where he is; by Kevin's side… while enjoying the fact that John is as stupid as he is. They're right in front of the school, where there's recently been cameras installed for the new safety protocols. Turning his head a little to the left, his eyes search the schools outside for not even two seconds before he spots the camera aimed in their direction – oh yeah, it's on tape.

John has piped down, still leaning against his bike and looking at them. He's obviously waiting for their reaction to what he just did, but Eddward is not about to give him what he wants. Instead he wraps his arms around Kevin's small and aching form, picking him up bridal style despite the ginger's complaints that he can still walk despite the pain. Eddward ignores him. He also ignores John as he walks right passed him with Kevin in his arms, walking towards the school, heading for the nurse's office to have him checked on.

As much as Kevin might not want or accept help, he's just going to have to suck it up right now, because Eddward is right here and he's _pissed_.

Though John has been suspended and is not allowed on school grounds, he's still a student at this school and will eventually return. However, given what just happened and the fact that it is indeed on tape, all Eddward will have to do is to bring Kevin to the nurse, head to the principal to tell him what just happened, have them watch the tape of the poor fool dooming himself, and then John will surely be expelled and thus never return to this school. Sweet and simple. A perfect plan.

However, he must say that it would be a little easier to follow through had it not been for Kevin's complaining and struggling form in his arms as he walks through the school halls. Though he's small and fragile he is still surprisingly strong – especially when he's determined. But in the end, it's still not enough to make Eddward lose his grip, even slightly.

They eventually make it to the nurse's office – right as she arrives at work to! Seeing her standing by the door with the keys in her hands, Eddward silently make his way up to her, clearing his throat to let her know they're on their way towards her. At the sound of his throat clearing she looks up from the door to where they're standing and gasps loudly when she spots Kevin in Eddward's arms, still clutching his arm with a face of pain and embarrassment. She hurries up to them to check on him, forcing Eddward to set the ginger back down on his feet so that she can check on his arm a little better. Her soft pokes and prods are enough to cause Kevin great pain and she stops immediately with her touches to return to the door, unlocking it hurriedly and ushering the boys inside. Without letting Kevin get the chance to even attempt to walk, Eddward picks him up again and carries him the short distance to the nurse's cot in her office and sets him down gently. When he stands up from the ginger he can clearly see the red face the other has from being too embarrassed. He would've smiled, chuckled, and maybe even laughed, had it not been for the other's condition and the rest of the plan that needs to be followed through.

The nurse is all over the place, forcing Kevin to remove his sweatshirt, which somewhat causes the ginger to blush even more whilst looking back at Eddward with a horrified look on his face. The expression makes Eddward raise his brow. Why would he be so embarrassed to take off his shirt in front of another dude? Watching as Kevin very slowly and insecurely allows the nurse to remove his shirt, revealing the white t-shirt underneath, Eddward still sees no reason for the other to be so nervous about this… but then again, he might be somewhat scarred from some previous situation similar to this one that ended badly. With that in mind, Eddward decides that Kevin is safe in the nurse's hands and that it's time to complete the mission.

"I'm afraid I have to go and take care of something rather important." He says as the nurse tries her best to get Kevin's t-shirt off as well. She pauses and looks up at him.

"I understand." She says. "But first I would like to know what happened."

"A suspended student thought it would be fun to charge at us with his motorcycle. Fortunately for us, he did it right in front of the school. I merely wish to speak to the principal to have them see the tape of the security camera and potentially have the student expelled permanently."

Eyes filled with rage, the nurse's face grows stiff. "Was it the same student who caused you to have internal bleeding?" She asks Kevin with a serious tone on her voice.

"Indeed it was." Eddward answers for the small ginger, as Kevin seems to be completely unable to speak at the moment. He then turns around and heads out from the nurse's office to start the trek towards the principal's.

The principal is indeed rather surprised to see the face of Eddward Vincent this early in the morning, and even more so from the serious expression that is on the teenager's face. Whenever he's been sent to the principal's office his facial expression has always been the one of someone who's irritated, bored, angry or just annoyed. Never serious. He watches as Eddward takes a couple of confident steps towards his desk before he sits down in one of the chairs that are positioned before it. Locking eyes with each other, the principal soon understands that this isn't about something that Eddward did – something to get him sent here for a punishment – but rather something Eddward came by his own for – he's here to report something.

"Good morning Eddward." He says and sits down in his own chair before continuing. "To what do I owe the pleasure of having you visit me this early in the morning?"

"I'm here to report that due to a dangerous act of a certain suspended student, Kevin has been brought to the nurse's office with extreme pain in his right arm and side."

"What?" The principal asks. _This is way too early for something like this to happen!_ "What do you mean? What happened?"

"A certain student by the name John Thornton thought it would be a fun thing to attempt and run us over with his motorcycle as we approached the school." Eddward answers, feeling a twist of enjoyment from the horrific expression of the man before him. "Fortunately I believe it was caught on camera as I noticed the one by the entrance was facing in our direction. I merely wish to see for certain if it indeed was."

"Say no more."

Reaching for the phone that's on his desk, the principal calls a number and has a very short conversation with someone before hanging up and powering up his laptop. Eddward remains seated in the chair, silently watching and waiting for something to happen. Lo and behold, a few short moments later another man enters the principal's office. Eddward isn't entirely certain who he is – he's never seen him on this school before. Without a word to either Eddward or the principal, the man makes his way up to stand next to the principle and watches at whatever is on the laptop screen. The two men watch something, mumbles to each other before their eyes grow larger than saucers. For whatever reason the two men appears to be in some kind of chock, and Eddward can only assume that they are watching the recording of this morning's incident.

The second man scratches his neck before pulling out his cell phone and dialing a number. In the meantime the principal appears to be studying the screen very carefully, as if he's looking, searching for something, before he drags his hand over his face and shaking his head. He then looks back up at Eddward, giving him a look of confirmation… he thinks.

"Thank you Eddward." The principal says tiredly, as if he's sick of everything that's happening right now. In all honesty, Eddward can't blame him. Being the principal of a High School must be tough. "We'll make sure as to contact his parents and even the police and inform them about what has happened, that we have evidence that it happened and even a witness. Just be ready that we might contact you if we need to, understand?"

"Thank you sir!" Eddward smiles greatly.

"Thank you Eddward. Now, here's a pass, just in case you're late to your first lesson."

Accepting the signed hall pass from the principal, Eddward stands up from his seat and heads out through the door, leaving the two men behind to take care of the rest. It won't be long before John is gone for good from this school, if the fact that the police will be involved isn't enough to go from.

Checking the time quickly, Eddward makes sure to return to the nurse's office to see how Kevin is doing and if he's up for class at all.

In the meantime… Katelyn has had some explaining to do for the poor school nurse. Once Eddward had left the two alone the nurse had been seriously determined to get the t-shirt off so that she would be able to check on the injured boy… only to find that she wasn't examining a boy at all. It basically went the same way it did when she was confronted by her mother at the hospital, only a lot more awkward.

They managed to end it all on a good term though, so that's good. The nurse seems to be a little bit more understanding than her mother was, but not nearly as supportive as Victoria. She's not as upset over the fact that she sent a student to the hospital when it all turned out to be a period, since she was indeed being roughly beaten up and needed to be checked on nevertheless. She is however quite upset over the fact that Katelyn allows this to continue on, despite the fact that she is being bullied to the point of being beaten and covered in bruises – and worse. A dislocated arm after someone attempted to run you over with a motorcycle isn't something to bat your eye at – and yet it is exactly what Katelyn is doing!

"I just don't want to cause a scene…" Katelyn had said in a rush. "I mean… everyone thinks I'm a boy… and given the way they're treating me now, just imagine how much worse it will get if they find out that I'm actually a girl…"

The nurse had remained silent after that, recognizing the fear in the small teenager's eyes. At that moment she understood that this young girl is in fact thinking about "coming out", but is just worried that everything that is happened will evolve into something much worse if the truth comes out. As much as she hates to admit it, she understands, and fears the same.

After the examination of her dislocated arm, the nurse had given her a towel to bite on and then told her to close her eyes, if she wished to. Knowing what was next to come, and that it would hurt incredibly much, Katelyn had shoved the towel into her mouth and closed her eyes tightly, preparing for the pain. A quick movement followed by a loud snapping sound and a wave of horrifying pain, the towel helped with giving her something to bite on and to muffle the roar of pain that managed to escape her some. But then it was over. The pain was gone and her arm was working again. Removing the towel from her mouth, she smiled at the nurse and thanked her for the help. Then she had put her t-shirt back on and was on her way to put on her green sweatshirt when the door to the nurse's office opened and revealed a certain Eddward Vincent. It didn't take long for the burning cheeks to return, and now that the nurse knew of her secret it got pretty hard for her to contain her giggles. Not that she enjoys the poor girl's suffering… it's not like that.

Watching the two teenagers talk to each other, hearing Eddward explaining how it went at the principal's office, that they got the incident on tape and that there was talk of the police getting involved to have the student expelled, maybe even arrested, the nurse smiled knowing that with or without this secret of hers, Katelyn has found a good friend in Eddward. Yes, she is still a little surprised – as everyone else is – that Eddward has started to show a brand new side of his for everyone to see now that he's got a friend. It makes her feel bad for allowing others judgment, the rumors, affect her view of this student who clearly is a sweetheart. It goes to show how easy it is to be affected without even knowing it.

"So, are you ready to go, Pumpkin?"

_Pumpkin? Goodness dearest._ The nurse fights with all her might to keep her giggles underneath the surface. An old lady such as her shouldn't laugh at this… but gosh darn it does she want to!

Shaking her head a little before turning around to the desk behind her, she takes out a hall pass and signs it for Katelyn – Kevin – to use in case she's late for class. She also takes the time to fill in a small appointment note to the school psychologist for Katelyn, writing one extra to give to the said psychologist to know when Katelyn will arrive and what she will need to talk about. Lord knows this kid will need to talk to someone about all of this.

Handing Katelyn the two notes she smiles brightly at the two of them before letting them out of her office and starts preparing her for the continuing day, making small personal notes as to what Katelyn has told her and other things that the school's psychologist might need to know about for the meeting.

Katelyn follows Eddward closely. The bell has already rung, so there's really no need for them to hurry anymore – they're already late. They walk up to her locker first to get her things and then they tread towards Eddward's to gather the same things Katelyn got for class. Then they head towards the classroom, knock on the door and wait for the teacher to open it for them so that they can give them their passes and start the school day.

Everything has gone smoothly so far, but now comes the tricky part of the day – the calculus test. Well… tricky and tricky. It depends on who you're asking really. For all you need to know Katelyn freaking loves calculus and is really good at it – so this is going to be a piece of cake!

Standing outside the classroom, Katelyn waits patiently for the door to be opened and let them in – and for Eddward to return from the school's toilet. She stands there in silence, enjoying the small moment of calmness as more and more students gather at the door, waiting for the test to start. The more students that arrive, the louder it gets, which in turn means it gets harder to hear when someone is calling your name. There's no time for her to register the act of someone grabbing her arm, only the one where the said someone is pushing her up against the brick wall in front of everybody. An angry jock is staring daggers into her, but she has no idea who he is. Just like most of the time, he's just a face in the ocean of faces, though she has a certain gut feeling that she knows _why_ he's angry and _why_ he's going after her like this.

"So," He says with a sneer. "You think you have the right to go tattle on people and getting them expelled, _huh?_" _John's already been expelled? That was quick. _

A rough breath escapes her as the hand that's grabbing her throat pushes her harder against the wall and then lifts her off of the floor, leaving her feet dangling just above the ground. On pure instinct her hands grasp the arm that's holding her up, fighting against it to ensure she's still able to breathe. Her eyes frantically scan the surroundings, the faces of the students that have gathered around the classroom along with her. They're all watching what's happening, but sadly none of them seem to be the type of people who stands up against others for others. She's alone in this, despite being surrounded by people.

The jock locks eyes with her as he raises her further, making sure their eyes stay the same height to look down at his prey. Hateful brown meet broken green in a stare down with no competition. But just as the jock – whoever he is – is about to raise his free hand to form a fist (which he's most likely planning on planting in the smaller teen's face), another hand appears from behind, landing forcefully on his shoulder and refusing to let go. Clear fear spreads through the brown eyes as all the hatred vanish for just a moment, before a more weaker/falser version of it returns. No words are spoken as the two alphas stare each other down before the darker one's intense blue forces the strength to vanish from the original's arm, letting the small omega down on the ground again.

Eddward keeps his hand on the jocks shoulder. Just because he set Kevin down on the ground doesn't he's done with. As a way to make the other understand that he's not wanted and that Eddward is serious enough to break bones if he has to, he hardens the grip on the shoulder, making the other slightly flinch in pain before efficiently stepping down. Satisfied with this, Eddward pulls the other away from Kevin, away from the door and away from the group of students ready for the calculus test. Keeping the eye contact, Eddward decides to let the other know just who it was that blew the whistle on dear little John this morning.

"Next time you go after someone to beat them up for something they did, make sure you actually catch the right person, would you?" He says with a voice dripping of sarcasm. "It would be very rude for the one who didn't do anything and make you look very stupid for the one who actually did the deed, wouldn't you agree? And who knows – they might just decide to do the same thing to you that they did to John – that being '_getting rid of the plague._'"

Just as understanding starts to settle in on the jocks face, the calculus teacher appear out of thin air, opening the door and letting everyone inside for the dreaded test of the day. With his eyes still locked with the jock, Eddward gently grabs Kevin's shoulder to usher him inside before himself. As the door closes behind them everything returns to normal, though Eddward refuses to let Kevin out of his sight, sitting behind him instead of next to him just to be on the safe side.

The classroom is silent as everyone focuses on completing the test with as many correct answers as possible. Eddward, of course, finished first but decided to wait for Kevin before walking up to the teacher to hand in his test. It gives him time to appreciate the silence that is, which is rather rare when it comes to classes in general. Gosh, he can't wait for college, where it's always like this – test or not. _Speaking of which… I do wonder what college Pumpkin is going to attend._ It's still a little early to be thinking about this sort of thing – for a normal person – but Eddward likes thinking ahead of time, making sure to plan everything out as thoroughly as possible. That's one of the reasons why Eddy always comes back to him whenever there's a "special" prank or scam to be pulled – he always plans for waterproofed.

A sudden distaste appears in Eddward's mouth at the mere thought of the shorter teen. He had been talking, or attempting to talk, to Kevin the night he was invited over, right after the swim meet had finished. Now, as someone who's known both Ed and Eddy for much longer than anyone can imagine, Eddward knows that Eddy is not the kind of person who talks to random people for the sake of making new friends, but for getting new _puppets_. Eddy wants something from Kevin, there's no doubt about it. _Eddward is certain of it!_ The only thing he isn't certain about is what he wanted to talk Kevin into doing. There's no way it isn't about some kind of "job" he wants the other to do for him for whatever payment. Is Kevin foolish enough to agree to someone as him, for whatever payment he might offer? Eddward hopes not… he really, really hopes not.

Suddenly Kevin stands up with his test in hand and walks up to the teacher's desk to hand it in. The teacher smiles at him as he accepts the test he's handing over. Right as that is over, the ginger teen turns around to look back at Eddward, the raven teen who's scrambling to get on his own feet to follow suit. From what Eddward can tell, Kevin is fighting hard to keep his amusement hidden from him. He merely shakes his head at the other, choosing to ignore the snickering for now with a smile on his face. _How can he still be so happy after nearly being run over by a vehicle and choked from being pushed up a wall with a hand around his neck?_

Sometimes this little ginger really confuses him, in the most impressive ways possible. Not that he's complaining about it – quite the opposite actually. He's impressed by the other.

Walking right next to the smaller teen, much like earlier that morning, Eddward allows himself to fall back into his mind to think about all the things the two have been through since the day Kevin pulled his name out of that "sacred" glass bowl in Mrs. Thompson class. A lot of the things that has happened have been about Eddward protecting Kevin from bullies, discovering they were rougher on the little "nerd" than he first thought, then it all ending with getting the bully leader expelled… by allowing the said bully to just as stupid as he looks. Sometimes stupidity is something to celebrate, in all honesty. The thought brings an amused sneer to Eddward's face and a small chuckle escapes him, drawing Kevin's attention towards the other.

"Hey! Just because you might not have a problem with languages doesn't mean you can laugh at me!"

Hearing Kevin's small voice snap out at him draws the taller teen's attention. "Hmm?" He hums while looking down at the other. "What did you say?" Surprisingly that seems to only make the ginger more irritated.

"You weren't even listening? Come on!" The smaller teen groans. "I've been walking here thinking we're having a decent conversation about the calculus test and then me revealing to you my struggles with languages only to have you laugh at me- and then finding out you weren't even paying attention at all!"

Eddward is straight out laughing at his little ginger's monologue, realizing well enough that he is merely adding fuel to the flames. He just can't help himself. Despite how the day started out, Kevin is happy – happy enough to complain about Eddward's lack of attention to the conversation the small ginger is desperately attempting to keep going between the two.

The school day goes on, until it eventually ends. Halls are filled to the brim with students that are hurrying to get their stuff and go home, in a way that would make you think they're about to lose their lives or freedom if they linger. Thankfully Eddward isn't the kind who hurries like that. He follows Katelyn closely, making sure no one is getting to close or acts out of ordinary around her – like a proper body guard… it's almost embarrassing. But what can she do? She's already told him, over and over, that she doesn't want him to be some kind of a body guard, guard dog or anything to protect her, and yet that is exactly what he's become.

He remains by her side on their way to Eddward's locker, always starting with going to her locker first before heading over to his, makes sure to keep somewhat an eye out while still getting his stuff from his locker, and then he returns by staying by her side once he's gotten all of his things ready for completing the homework.

The walk home is just as eventful as the walk towards school was – minus the motorcycle incident, of course: Eddward walking in silence while Katelyn tries her best to make sure he doesn't end up hiding in his thoughts again… and fails from time to time. He does apologize for it when he snaps out of it again, and she always forgives him, but she makes sure he knows she was a little annoyed by it, teasing him a little here and there for it. All it does is drawing out warm chuckles from the teenage boy which only serves to make her just the slightest more irritated. All in all, it's a very well-founded base for their friendship they've got going on.

Arriving home, the air grows colder. Waving goodbye, feet turn to lead. Watching him walk away, she doesn't notice him closing in. He closes his door after him… he opens the door to let her know.

Reaching for the doorknob, she turns around when she can't find it, finding the door already wide open with her father standing before her. His expression is unreadable. The knot returns to her guts, making itself a home within her deepest parts. Eyes cold, he looks at her with disgust and distrust. Isn't in incredible… how much a small phone call from a school nurse can cause?

One call was all it took for him to learn, one look to verify what he heard. One look from terrified green was all it took to make him see. One word was all it took to make her see…

"_**Leave.**_"

…the door close before her eyes.

* * *

_My stepdad gave me 24 cans of coca cola for free the other day. Stepdaughter is very grateful. _

_Anyway, side note: I will begin to update my stories at the last day of every month. This is just to make things a little easier – for you and me both. For you to know when the next chapter is supposed to be uploaded and for me to actually have some kind of "structure" for when I'm working on the chapters. _

_All in all, it's a pretty well-balanced plan. I just hope I manage to keep it. _

_I've also been told by people in my private life that I should get an account on (is that the right one?) to make money on my stories, because they think they're that good.(?) So… I guess I'm getting …? Naturally I won't be able to earn money on these stories… but maybe if I edit them…? Hmmmmmmm…._


	14. Chapter 14

_When you're in the middle of normal day to day life – and you suddenly find yourself on the verge of moving without even having planned on it. (O.o)_

* * *

**Chapter 14**

_Escape your mind in our domain_

The air grows cold and heavy as she watches the door close before her, locking her outside. It takes a moment for her to fully register what just happened, and when she does, all she can do is let out a heavy, hollow, sigh. He knows, doesn't he? Her father knows about her "secret", and he just showed his support for it. As she breathes out yet another sigh, a more rigid one, she can see the air she exhales form a small cloud in front of her. Was it really that cold before? Her jacket suddenly seems far too thin for the coldness that surrounds her as she remains standing in front of her door. Surely winter isn't here already – autumn just barely arrived. Could it be that her emotional state is affecting her surroundings?

Another puff of air, another small puff of a cloud, she turns around to walk back down the front yard. She stops at the moment she reaches the street, looking at the ground for a short moment before she turns around to look back at the house she regretfully calls her current home. She knows that she has the option to go back and demand her father to let her inside, to demand he let her stay despite what he thinks… but she also knows what would happen if she did something so stupid, so foolish. It is a fool's errand, after all, to try and reason with her father. If he doesn't like something or someone, then there's nothing you can do to make him change his mind about the matter. Oh, he will make people think he's alright with them when he's talking to them face to face, but as soon as they have their back's turned he shows no hesitation when it comes to stabbing them in the back, calling them names, spreading rumors about them, and the worst part of it all: demanding that everyone agrees with him – spreading his point of view to others in a way so that they will eventually "learn" to think like him, to act like him. It doesn't matter who the person is that he's decided to hate, what they've done to upset him (if they've done anything at all), or if they're doing anything to try and redeem themselves… jealousy and rage doesn't care about relations after all. It just so happens that she is the one his anger is directed at right now, and she can only do one thing about it: Accept it.

She turns back around; facing the street she's standing by. Her gaze momentarily wanders to the house across the street, the home she knows she would be welcomed into. The key she added to her keychain is the evidence of their open arms, the gift she was given for a moment just like this one: when she needs somewhere to go, whenever her own home isn't an option for her.

Movement in the windows downstairs catches her attention. Eddward is moving around in the kitchen, most likely preparing something for his mother when she comes back home from work. She cannot see very well from where she stands, even with her glasses, though she knows he's there, wandering about, doing his ordinary day to day chores without any complains… without any aggressive outbursts. Oh, how she would've liked to go over there, to knock on the door and ask for the permission to stay, the permission the key proves she already has. And yet, once her feet begin to move, they move in a different direction.

Away from her home, away from Eddward's home, she walks down the street of the cul-de-sac, casting one final glance back at her home only to catch the disappointed and disapproved face of her father. He's been standing in the window, watching her, testing her, waiting to see what she'd do – fend for herself like the "_good daughter_", return and beg for mercy like the "_perfect daughter_", or go to the house across the street like the "_**unwanted**__ daughter_". It's almost frightening to her, to think that she actually weighed her options between being a good versus a perfect daughter. Despite her actions proving she's a good daughter, she knows in the end that it won't be enough to ebb away any of her father's wrath – _she didn't act like the perfect daughter after all._

Her mind wanders as she goes, thinking about where she could go to seek shelter for the night, as she's certain her father is not about to let her spend the night in her own bed after walking away like she did. Fending for herself is not something he wants her to do, no. He doesn't want her to be able to take care of herself. He wants her to be as dependent on him as humanly possible – for as long as humanly possible. It doesn't matter if he's angry with her or not, it doesn't matter if he loves her or not. She is his daughter, thus she belongs to him. That is all. This is merely his way of showing his dominance over her – how he doesn't need her in his life, but rather how she desperately needs him in hers… and as horribly as it sounds, that's how it's always been, how he's always been able to…

Shaking her head to rid herself of the memories, she can't help but feel how her cancer somehow, in a bizarre way, saved her life; Forcing her to live in a place, in a world, where her father had no control over her – doctor's orders overriding his own demands and wants, forcing him to leave her alone… to redirect all of his attention to the only one left in the house – her mother. The poor soul who married a monster in disguise, drawing her to make some terrible choices of her own, giving the monster even more fuel to his never ending anger as soon as he found out. The scars that are still marring her body is a constant reminder for them all about what she did, what he did in return, and though she swore that she will never to do it again Katelyn knows how she constantly thinks about it, weighing the options in her head, calculating the risks and the potential benefits. As much as Katelyn is able to understand her mother's reasoning, it frightens her to think that she might attempt to do it again… to leave her alone for good, with him…

Her feet automatically stop when she reaches the stairs that leads to the school's entrance… when did she get here? She looks up at the dark windows of the building, finding no light in any of them. Everyone's gone home, even the janitors. Looking around at the schoolyard and the connecting parking lot, she sees not a single trace of anyone, not a single soul. No one is here to see her; no one is here to witness the first few tears breaking through her defense.

The chill in the sudden cold air grows more intense where the tears escape from their prison, kept in there for a long time as she's done her best to forget about them. The biting cold on her cheeks forces her to notice them escape, forcing her to remember them, to remember all of those reasons why she had them locked up in the first place, knowing perfectly well what happens if you let so much as one of them escape your grasp. _One does seldomly come alone._ And as soon as the thought floats across her mind, she feels how true it is, as more and more tears bursts through her well based defense system, falling down her cheeks, drawing more of the biting cold to them just to remind her of their successful escape so much more. She takes a deep, shaky breath and sits down on the bottom stair, staring out into nothing, thinking about nothing as more and more tears leave the prison she had made for them. She does nothing to stop them. Why would she? It'd be a useless battle to fight, even if she were to win it. No. Let them go. If they're that desperate to escape her, to be free, then why try and stop them? Let them be free.

She doesn't know how long she's sitting there for, lamenting everything that's happened in her life since the day she was born. As much as her parents had planned and longed for a child of their own, the life they decided to provide for her is… less than an appealing one. Though she know she cannot place every bad thing that has happened on them, as some of it was out of their reach, though those are not the times she thinks of. No… she thinks about the times where the incidents where not only within their reach, but caused by their hands. The constant competition to be better than everyone else, improve everyday or else you'll be looked down upon. The times her father would grab her in the hair whenever she accidentally did something wrong, breaking a glass or something like that, and drag her across the floor to throw her into her room, standing guard to make sure she didn't leave… if he was in the mood that is. Other times he dragged her inside and only placed the blows where the bruises wouldn't be visible for his "_horrible choice of a wife_". She remembers all of those times her mother allowed her daughter's cries of distress land onto deaf ears, being far too tired to even attempt to listen to her troubles while dealing with her own. All of those times she would pull out the infamous dark bottle and sit down in the kitchen while her husband did whatever he did in the living room, loosing herself in the liquid with the horrible taste and scent; the taste and scent Katelyn early on learned to hate with her entire being.

Is it selfish of her wishing her life had been different? Whishing she had been born into a different family?

A loud roaring motorcycle wakes her up from her deep dark ocean, dragging her attention to where it storms by on a road a little further ahead. She's unable to tell who is driving it; they sped on much too fast for her to get a single hint, leaving a trail of dry street dust flying about just above the ground.

Looking on forward, after where the motorcycle had vanished from her sight, she takes a long deep breath of cold air, filling up her lungs before she lets it all out again. Her tears have stopped falling for the moment and she feels the trails they left behind has dried on her cheeks, making her skin stiff and uncomfortable. Another deep breath and she forces herself on her feet again, to continue on the aimless trek she's begun. She doesn't know where it will lead her in the end, but she can't find it in herself to care at the moment. Walking has always been like therapy for her, calming her mind and helping her breathe better.

Her feet take her through a neighboring neighborhood where mostly elders live. She's not sure why that is in this neighborhood, but she can't help but find it cozy – a bunch of elders, seniors, living their calm and content lives to the fullest in a calm and quiet area where no one disturbs them, where their grandchildren can come and visit them, listening to their many stories they have to tell about their youth, what they did when they where the age their grandchildren were. A soft chuckle escapes her as she thinks of the image of her being one of those grandparents, telling her grandchild about her life as a teenager – how she had to pretend to be a boy throughout high school, her only friend being the odd ball of society who, for some reason, absolutely refused to stop acting like a freaking guard dog. Another chuckle escapes her lips as she imagines the grandchild's confused reaction to her very odd tale, and all of the questions she would be bombard with, no doubt.

The sky grows darker, not midnight dark, but dark enough to make itself known for her, that the day is indeed running towards its end – and she has yet to find someplace to spend the night. True that she would most likely be accepted into the Vincent's to sleep there for a night or two, but she just can't find it in herself to ask them for such a favor. Yes, it is true that they gave her a key to their residence, but that was merely two days ago! She can't come knocking on their door, asking for their help so soon after receiving their offer, can she?! No, absolutely not.

As she keeps walking through the neighborhood, eventually ending up near the cul-de-sac, she thinks over the options she has. She could've gone to a hotel and ask for a room, but she doesn't have any money on her as her parents are never very eager on giving her any. A motel might've been an option if she had been brave enough to try one – all of those rumors she's heard about them makes her shake in her boots – besides, she doesn't even know if there is one in this town. Maybe she could ask someone else from school? Nathan had mentioned earlier when she talked about Rave and Nazz that he could help with sleeping arrangements. That has to mean he's got room for two extra people at least, so maybe she could go to him and ask for a small favor? Of course, she would have to come up with a cover story as to why she's unable to sleep in her own home for the night, but maybe he wouldn't be quick to judge her if she shared some of the truth with him? She wouldn't tell him all of it; of course, she doesn't want him to get worried or anything. Maybe she could tell him that she lost the key and that her parents just left for a short trip? But then he might offer to help find the key… Or she could say that she doesn't have a key for her house yet – that her parents always leave the door unlocked and that they accidentally forgot to leave it open as they left for the trip? But then, why hadn't she called them and asked them for help? _Urgh… this was going to be harder than she thought…!_

"Katelyn?" A voice suddenly breaks through her inner monologue and planning. It's far too familiar for her to ignore, not to mention the person knows her actual name. Turning around in the direction the voice came from; Victoria suddenly enters her field of view, her head poking out of a car window as she drives a little closer before stopping right by her. "What are you doing out so late?"

'_This late?' How late is it?_ "U-Um…"

"Never mind that." Victoria says, noticing the girl's hidden distress. "Would you like a ride home? It's not that long, but it is getting rather cold out and you're positively shivering."

"W-well… if I may…?"

"Of course you may!" Victoria beams and presses a button to unlock the door to the passenger seat. "Come on right in! I turned the heat on in the seat." She smiles gently at her.

Katelyn feels how she could just fall apart right then and there, though she doesn't. This friendly woman has opened up her arms for her yet again, and she's not going to stand there and refuse this kind gesture. As much as she hates being helped, she hates being rude even more.

She can feel Victoria's smile spread warmth the closer she gets to the door. The moment she's seated herself and closed the door after her the woman actually hugs her – as well as she can while still being seated behind the steering wheel. Her hug surprised Katelyn slightly, but it is neither unwanted nor unappreciated. She hugs back and the woman smiles gently at her before driving the short distance from the street leading up to the cul-de-sac to their garage. She stops the car for a moment to press a button on a small remote that's attached to the car's key ring, and thus the garage door opens up for them and Victoria drives in.

"I really don't like parking the car outside when it's cold like this, especially not when there's snow out." Victoria says while they get out of the said vehicle. "I'm not built for the cold weather you see."

"I understand." Katelyn says with a smile, though she immediately grows weary as the woman leads them to a door that allows them to enter the house, like a second entrance. She hesitates when the woman aims to open it.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" Victoria asks, noticing the troubled expression on her face. "Would you prefer to go home? It's alright if you do. I didn't mean to force you to spend some time here, I just-"

"No, please… don't worry about that… its fine…" Katelyn stops her rambling, knowing full well that she was about to apologize for bringing her here. They remain silent for a moment, Victoria being patient as the young girl grasps at her thoughts to formulate them in the right way. "I'm just… not able to go home right now." She hates this. She really does – being open about something so personal like this is never something she enjoys, no matter who it is with. Victoria's kind yet confused expression doesn't help either… though she knows that's all the kind woman wants to do.

"What do you mean?" She asks gently, letting go of the doorknob and taking a careful step towards her. "Did something happen?"

Gulping loudly, Katelyn tries her best to avoid eye contact, though she knows it's foolish. "Y-yeah." Her broken voice lets out. "Dad… found out… and he's not happy with me…"

Surprise and understanding mix together perfectly and forms the expression on Victoria's face, her eyes big and wide, eyebrows raised high – though not to high – and her mouth slightly loosely open. She's quick to find her place by the broken girl, arms tightly held around her shoulders as she holds her together, holds her tightly so that she won't fall into bits and pieces. Having already cried, Katelyn finds herself merely standing there, arms hanging on her side as the woman tries desperately to comfort her. It hurts terribly.

"S-so now… I kind of need to find someplace to stay… for the night…" She forces out of her mouth. Oh, how she would enjoy staying here, but she knows that she can't. Though she has the key, their gift of freedom, she can't just start abuse it like this, and immediately to!

"What?" Victoria asks, voice filled to the brim with concern and confusion.

"Y-yeah…" Katelyn says, allowing her head to fall as she forces the question out of her. "S… so… if you could… maybe help me find a cheap hotel… or something like that, where I can spend the… the night…?"

"Wh-?" Victoria seems too puzzled to fully function. "We… we gave you a key to our home... did we not?"

"You did, but…"

"You do not wish to stay here?" Her voice is full of understanding, yet filled with confusion at the same time.

"No! No, no! It's not like that!" Katelyn hurriedly says. "It's just… I… I can't ask to stay here… it would be rude and weird to ask that of you so soon after… well… after you've already helped me."

Lowering her head so that she won't have to see the expression on the woman's face, Katelyn berates herself over and over again for how clumsily she expressed herself. Not only did she make the woman question her view of their wonderful gift, but she made her think she didn't enjoy their company! Such a foolish… _you're such an idiot!_

Busy drowning herself in her mind, Katelyn completely misses the determination taking form in Victoria's eyes. Seeing the girl struggle with herself like this, and after her own father kicked her out of the house, and then how she feels like she can't ask them for help since it would be rude to do so? No. This ends here. Gently grabbing Katelyn's hand, Victoria turns on her heels and opens the door that leads to the house, just next to the kitchen where she knows her son will be, cooking a lovely dinner. She can feel Katelyn's slightly struggle in her hand, but she decides to ignore it for the moment as she drags the girl after her into the house, only letting go of her hand when she's closed the door after them, and before she's able to say anything to excuse herself from their home, Victoria calls out to her son, to let him know of their presence.

"Eddward! We're home!"

Having heard the door to the garage open Eddward knew that his mother was home, and he had just been about to call out and welcome her home when she had called out to him. "_We're home_"? Confused, and curious, about who this other person, or _persons_, could be, Eddward temporarily left the dish on the stove to go and see who his mother had brought with her. He doesn't remember her saying anything about them having guests tonight, and he worries slightly that he might not have prepared enough to eat – even though he always makes sure to cook so that they can have leftovers.

Rounding the corner that separates the kitchen from the living room, the first thing that he sees is the red of a very familiar cap, resting on a familiar head of copper. _Kevin? What is he doing here?_ Both happy and worried to see his smaller friend and neighbor standing in his home, Eddward forces himself to smile as the smaller teen makes eye contact with him. The worry grows greatly when he sees the dim light in his green eyes, the way his smile is… so incredibly broken. It's there, but even with the low social skills that Eddward has, he's still able to tell that it's not real, that it's going to falter any second. Looking further he notices the blank and glossy look in his eyes – has he been crying? – and he fights to keep his own smile from trembling. Given how Kevin slightly lowers his gaze and then looks away in shame he can only assume that he failed, furrowing his eyebrows a little at the fact.

A clap of Victoria's hands brings back the teenager's attention towards her, breaking the tense atmosphere before it's able to settle in completely. Her big and bright smile shines like a sun as she keeps her eyes closed while she makes her announcement to her son and the ginger teen.

"Kevin has informed me that there's been a slight… hiccup in his family recently, and that he won't be able to live there for the time being, so I've decided to let him stay here in the meantime, until things calm down and clear up." She says, causing Kevin to show a brand new expression on his face, one that Eddward hasn't seen before for as long as he's known him. He watches as his mother gives Kevin a very reassuring smile, something that he can tell he needs. "I'm going to go and fix a place for you to sleep. You decide how long you wish to stay here, but know that you're welcome to stay for as long as you'd like or need to. Our home and arms are open to you, always, no matter what." She then takes a step towards the small ginger and leans in a little closer, placing a hand on his shoulder and looks him directly in his eyes with the reassuring smile still there. "Okay?" She says, with an ever so soft voice, one only a loving mother can pull off.

The expression on Kevin's face grows deeper, his brows furrowing and a slight watery glossing emerging in his eyes. Eddward watches on as his mother gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze before standing up straight again with the smile still decorating her face. Gratefulness… no, that's not what his expression is, though it's there too… hope? Broken gratefulness for having something he's hoped for come true…? Something he wanted to come true, but couldn't allow himself to hope for? Maybe? It seems logical.

Victoria slowly but surely makes her way out of the living room, up the stairs to where the bedrooms and the guest/storage room is… oh yeah… they're gonna have to clear that out of a lot of things if Kevin whishes to have a room for himself. That is, unless he's okay with sharing? Worst case scenario: Eddward sleeps on the couch in the living room and Kevin sleeps in his bed. Yeah, that could work. As long as it works for Kevin it should be fine. Now… why does it feel like he's forgotten something…?

A loud beeping sound, a timer, goes off in the kitchen and before Kevin is able to either ask or say anything Eddward is on the move, hurrying back to where he was mere minutes before – though lord knows that's all it takes for disaster to happen in the place known as the kitchen. A cold sweating chill runs through his body when he comes in and sees that everything is still as it should be – nothing is burned and soon done to be served for the hungry mouths. Letting a sigh of relief out, Eddward brushes the sweat off of his brow and for the moment forgets about the ginger for a small moment… that is, until he turns around and nearly has his very first seizure – _ah, so that's what those feels like._ He doesn't scream in terror, but he does make a choking sound as he nearly walks into the smaller teen that's managed to find his way to stand beside him while he checked on their dinner for the evening. Kevin, while still surprised and startled by Eddward nearly walking into him, still managed to laugh about it before Eddward is, as he's currently trying to breathe again.

"A-Are you ok-ay?" Kevin chuckles out, drying some more tears from underneath his glasses. These tears are happy tears, laughter tears. It made Eddward happy, knowing they were not tears of pain or sorrow. "Wha-what was that? Didn't you notice I followed you?"

"No… no I did not." Eddward answers, slightly punching his chest to get the old drummer into action again. "Obviously."

"Sorry!" Kevin continues to chuckle, covering his mouth with his hand. "It just- it just looked so funny!"

As rude – and possibly horrible – as she knew it was to laugh at someone else's expense, his reaction was just too much for her confused and hurt emotional state, and the laughter just found its way out of her with no remorse. Even with his eyes on her she couldn't stop her chuckles, trying her best to keep them down so that she could help him with the dinner instead of just being in the way or distracting him.

Though, with the way he shook his head at her with a gentle smirk on his lips, she got the feeling that he did not think of her as being in the way.

As Katelyn managed to calm down, Eddward managed to complete the meal – a stew – and set off to set the dinner table. Deciding to be a helpful hand, Katelyn took it upon herself to fetch them some drinking glasses while Eddward had focused on the plates first. Being careful of where they where respective to one another, they didn't run into each other again. The utensils where placed in their correct locations, the coasters ready to fulfill their purposes while lying still on the table, the jug filled with lemon water and ready to serve those who are thirsty… everything was ready the moment the two teens put the two pots down on their respective coaster, just in time for Victoria to come down the stairs.

"Already done?" Eddward asked as his mother entered the kitchen. "That was a lot faster than I had assumed."

"Oh hush up." Victoria jokingly waved him off with her hand before turning towards Katelyn. "I'm sorry dear, but I'm afraid I cannot get the guestroom ready for use just yet. It's currently stuffed full of old furniture that I had completely forgotten about." Something about that made Katelyn's stomach turn inside out. She's going to have to find someplace else to sleep after all isn't she? "I was wondering, if it's alright with you, if you could consider sleeping in Eddward's bedroom?"

Katelyn looked at her with a surprised expression on her face. _Is she suggesting…?_ "Huh?"

"Only if you're comfortable with it dear." Victoria repeated. "We have a spare mattress that one of you could sleep on. That is, unless one of you could consider sleeping on the couch? Though it's not very comfortable, I wouldn't imagine."

"N-No, no! It's okay!" Katelyn says, waving her arms in front of her. She knows this isn't an easy situation, what with Eddward thinking she's a boy and all, and she knows that Victoria merely wants to do what's right and all… _would it be alright to tell Eddward about it…? She's sure that he would be alright with it… she's sure of it… though not certain._

"Mother, please don't worry too much about it." Eddward says. "I will take the spare mattress and Kevin can take my bed. It's as simple as that." He smiles in a reassuring way, making it seem like it's not a big deal, and Katelyn just almost believes him… "Besides, it's not like it's something we haven't seen before."Poor sweet Victoria seems like she's about to pass out at what her son just said, but they both know she can't since in a weird way, he's not to blame for what he said. "Right Kevin?" Eddward ads, looking directly at Katelyn, his smirk seeming to be nothing if not teasing.

"…_yeeaaah_…"

They sit down to eat the stew that Eddward had made along with some potatoes, and Katelyn has to admit it is delicious. She tells him as much and he denies it, though he's happy to hear it. Victoria smiles at the two of them in a knowing way, though she keeps her mouth shut, not saying anything to upset them or make them embarrassed.

Once lunch is done, Katelyn helps out with the dishes in the kitchen, rinsing them off in the sink before placing them in the dishwasher. They then set to work on the sleeping arrangements. Though it would've been most logical for Katelyn to share a bed with Victoria, they both telepathically agreed that it would have to be a discussion for another day to let Eddward in on the secret, thus leaving them with little choice but to agree that Eddward and Katelyn share a bedroom_. _With no bags packed with necessities, Katelyn was left to borrow some of Eddward's pajamas for the night. She was slightly worried that she would have to explain to him in some way why she decided to change in the bathroom instead of in the bedroom, but before she could even start to think up an excuse for the act, Eddward stood up with his set of pajamas in hand and headed out the bedroom door.

"I'm just gonna go and change." He said ever so matter of factly before he left her alone in his room, staring blankly at the door as it slowly closed itself.

"Right."

A few minutes later he returned in his pajamas; black t-shirt and grey sweatpants with white socks and his infamous black beanie with the white twin stripes. All in all, it was pretty similar to what Katelyn borrowed from him. She stood up as soon as he had opened the door and headed out to go and change in the bathroom, grateful that she didn't get any questioning look from him or any question at all for her decision. As she left through the door she found Victoria peeking out of her own bedroom, smiling. A question burned in her eyes, and Katelyn answered with a smile before she headed into the bathroom. It was all Victoria needed to know that things where okay, and with that she headed back into her own bedroom for the night.

Katelyn made sure to not take long in the bathroom, changing into Eddward's pajamas. She removed her cap, her glasses and her nerdy outfit; Green sweater, white tank top, khaki pants… maybe that's why she was freezing before? She's not very good when it comes to dressing like a guy, and it's very apparent in the cold weather, which is only getting colder and colder by the day. _Oh well, she would learn soon enough hopefully._ Shaking her head at the thought, she decided to keep her small bra on – _bra, chest holder/flattener, whatever you'd like to call it _– just so that she wouldn't have to worry about it accidentally sticking out of the small clothe pile of hers. She could just barely imagine the expression on Eddward's face if that were to happen – if that's how he found out – not to mention all of the questions he would no doubt ask. Nah… this is safer. Uncomfortable, but safer. With that plan made up, she pulled on the dark red t-shirt and the black sweatpants Eddward borrowed her, making her realize how much smaller she is than him, yet almost just as wide at the hips. Picking up her discarded clothes from the floor, she makes her way back to the bedroom, where Eddward has already made himself at home on the floor.

Hearing the door open again, Eddward looks up from the floor to see Kevin enter, looking ever so tiny in the much too large set of pajamas. He doesn't comment on it though, as he's certain the ginger will not be very happy to hear about his small size compared to the other's, and though he's known that Kevin is smaller than him, seeing him like this helps making him realize just how much the difference between them is. Again, he doesn't say anything about it – fearing it might be the result of his battle against his cancer and that he might step on sensitive toes if he were to mention it. The last thing he wants to do is to make the smaller teen upset.

Kevin hesitantly makes his way over to Eddward's bed, carefully placing the small pile of clothes in his hands on the floor next to the bed. It causes Eddward's eyes to twitch slightly, his OCD reminding him of its existence, but he fights the urge to say anything. He closes his eyes as a desperate distraction from the mess that is so insignificant and small that it isn't even able to be considered a mess to begin with, and start breathing in long and slow breathes, trying to convince his body to fall asleep already. He can hear soft sounds of rustling coming from his bed, knowing it is Kevin burying himself in his warm blankets and getting ready for sleep himself. It's at that point that Eddward remembers he forgot to turn the lights off. Sitting up with a small sigh, he stands up from the mattress and heads over to the light switch that's by the door, turning the light off.

"Ah! Sorry!" Kevin's voice sounds in the dark room. "I completely forgot about that."

"Not to worry Pumpkin." Eddward smiles and makes his way back to his sleeping arrangement. Once fully nested in the blankets again, he looks up in the direction of his bed and gives a smile. "Good night, Kevin."

"Yeah… goodnight…" He receives back, but he can tell by the sound of Kevin's voice that the ginger has more that he wants to say. And so, he waits. "Um…"

"Hm?" Eddward hums in response, not the slightest surprised that the little Pumpkin wishes to speak some more. It draws his eyebrows to tilt up knowingly and his lips to curl up in amusement. "What is it Pumpkin?"

"..." Kevin remains silent for a moment, probably offended by the nickname. Eddward is about to call out again and ask if he wanted something when he speaks up. "Thank you…" His voice is tiny and slightly feminine… _though it usually gets like that whenever he whispers, so it isn't really that unusual for him._ "…for… letting me stay here. I honestly don't know when I can go back home, but… just… thank you."

Eddward remains silent for a moment, thinking about how to phrase himself – something that Kevin always does whenever he needs to tell Eddward something important. After a moment of silence he decides to let actions speak instead of words – as someone once said the former is stronger than the latter – hoping it will have better affect.

Sitting up in his temporary bed, Eddward untangles himself from his blankets as he stands up and heads up towards his bed where he knows Kevin is wondering what he's about to do. The smaller teen is always so sensitive and aware of his movements whenever he does something that's a little out of his character, or just being normal in a way he's never seen before. As he sits down at the edge of his bed he can feel Kevin sitting up in a quick movement, probably quick enough to get dizzy, and though he's not looking at him yet he can still feel his eyes burn in his skin.

"Eddward?" He asks carefully, drawing Eddward to turn towards him finally, making eye contact. "Are you al-"

"I do not know fully what is going on in your life Kevin, or what has caused you to be unable to rest easy in your own home, in your own bed." Eddward says, silencing Kevin. "You know that you can talk to me if you need to, if you want to, so I'm not going to repeat those words or phrases to you again."

"O-kay? Then… what are you going to do…?"

Eddward can see Kevin tense up as he leans closer, can feel him stiff when he wraps his arms around him and pulls him closer. "I'm going to show you." He says, rubbing small circles on the back of his right shoulder with his thumb. "I'm going to show you that you are welcome here no matter what. Be it if you have to get away from a rough situation, or if you just wish to because you're bored." Kevin remains still as Eddward hugs him. "If you wish to say something, to speak out loud about something that disturbs you or just talk about your favorite TV show, then do so. You're allowed to. We want you to." He can feel Kevin's head come to rest on his left shoulder, his arms slowly making their way around him as well, and he tightens his grip around him. "You are not expected to do anything here other than being free from whatever is keeping you chained in your home. You do not have a role to fill here other than being yourself, your _true_ self." Kevin clutches at his t-shirt as if he'd die if he let go. "I do not know what is keeping you locked up inside yourself, what's causing you to reject other people's help, but at the same time, I don't need to know. I'm not saying that it wouldn't be helpful for me to know, as it would allow me to know just how I would be able to help you. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that I don't need to know in order to help you, because I'm still going to help you – _because I want to help you_. In whatever way I can find, I will help you… whether you want me to or not."

Soft whimpers echo in the dark. Despite how much she cried earlier today it still seems that she has more tears to shed. She didn't think it was possible, yet here she is; crying in the arms of her friend. She's not sure what is causing her to cry the most; his words or the fact that he said them. He knows that he doesn't know everything about what's going on, that he doesn't have the full picture. And yet, he claims that he doesn't need to know in order to help her, because he wishes to help her, whether he knows or not, whether he has the full picture or not. Maybe… maybe she could just… tell him…? If this is how he feels… then surely it wouldn't be a… a problem…?

'_C'ya around… Pumpkin!'_

"MMH!" She gasps as she accidentally bites her lip, letting go of Eddward to check if she drew blood or not. Nothing… good.

"Kevin?" Eddward asks. "Are you alright?"

Looking back up at him and noticing the concerned expression on his face, she immediately feels bad for making him worry. "Y-yeah! I'm okay! Just bit my lip is all."

She can tell that he's not convinced and she's very grateful for him leaving it alone for the moment. Trying to ensure him that she's fine she gives him a big smile and thanks him for showing his support. It seems to do the trick, just barely. He stands up from the bed and returns to the mattress on the floor, crawling back underneath the blanket and making himself comfortable. Though it feels weird to share a bedroom with a guy, she has to say she feels oddly okay with it. Not just because Eddward thinks she's a guy, but because she gets the feeling that even if he did know, she would still not have to worry about him doing something weird in the middle of the night, when she sleeps. He's just not that kind of guy, and she's ever so confused why he's being so hated by everyone. Well, not really confused when it comes to the _male_ students at school, but more when it comes to the female students. Why hate him? Just why? She doesn't get it.

A yawn escapes her as she settles with the thought that she may never understand why and accepts the reality that she may never get it. She's fine with that. After all – it's their loss. She worms her way deeper into the bed, managing to get the blanket all wrapped around her like a cocoon. A sigh escapes her when she's fully burrowed into the bed, utterly happy with herself.

"Comfortable?" Eddward asks with a chuckle from the floor.

"Very." She smiles back. "Goodnight Eddward."

"Goodnight Kevin."

* * *

_Resting your head at the time for bed, only to remember how you were misled. _


	15. Chapter 15

_A promise is a promise. Just don't ask me how to pronounce his name; I'm not sure myself._

* * *

**Chapter 15**

_Awkward is me, Crazy is Ybanus_

"_ALL YE' COATSUCKERS ARE GONNA GET WHAT YER MAMMA'S NEVER GAVE TO YA'!_" The madman screams from the top of his lungs at the sky before looking down at the people, the audience, on the ground. "_THUS SAID THY LORD AND THIS SAID THY MA'AM; YER NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF FOOLS THE LOT OF YA'!_" And with that the rocks start flying downwards, effectively scattering the audience as everyone runs indoors to evade them.

Watching from the door leading to the roof, Katelyn can only sigh in frustration as her granddad keeps on being… well… him. Standing proudly on the asylum's roof completely naked, armed with nothing but rocks and shouting from the tops of his lungs for king and country, his neon green beard dancing in the wind. _When did his beard turn neon green?_ She watches as a couple of doctors walk passed her, gets onto the roof, heads his way whilst trying not to slip off of the edge. Of course he would do something like this right after a rain shower. Why wouldn't he?

How… just _how_ did she end up in this situation? Things were going so well and then suddenly she's being swept away by her mother and brought to this place to deal with this lunatic of a granddad. And in the middle of a lovely breakfast to! Good grief, she didn't even get time to thank Victoria for making it or tell her how wonderful it was! She sighs deeply and focuses her attention back towards the doctors, slowly but surely treading across the slippery roof. They're getting closer… though she's not certain whether that's a good thing or not. He can be both very unpredictable and very predictable at the same time, which makes it very hard to know just where he's standing at the very moment. Figuratively speaking.

"_OHO!_" He yells out joyfully when he sees the doctors approaching. "YA'LL THINK YE'R GONNA GET ME BOTTOM! _GET BACK IN THE WHOLE YER' MOTHERS FORCED YE' OUT OF!_" And with that he starts throwing the biggest rocks in his current possession.

"Ybanus! Please calm down!" One of the doctors calls out to him, earning himself a medium sized rock in the chest. "Your granddaughter is here! Do you really want her to see you like this?"

Katelyn rolls her eyes. As terrible as it may sound, this is not the worst of her granddad she's ever seen.

At the mention of his granddaughter Ybanus immediately turns towards the door. A big, wide and toothy grin grows on his face as soon as he spots her. "KATELYN!" He calls out and raises both hands, full of rocks, to the sky, showing them all his everything – forcing them to avert their eyes lest they'll be scarred for life – as his neon green beard blows up in his face. "THE STUCK UPS FOR FOOLS HAVE GRANTED US RELIEF!"

"From what?!" Katelyn shouts at him, shielding her eyes from his shame… and his nudeness.

"WHERE FELICIA IS HIDDEN AND THE DEAD DOGS ARE BURIED! THE NIGHTMARES THAT ARE BORN IN A GENTLE SOUL!"

"What are you _talking_ about?!"

"WHAT?"

"_What in the blue blazers are you talking about?! Who's Felicia?!_"

"I HAVEN'T THE SLIGHTEST OF PUREST IDEAS!" He calls back casually.

A sigh is all that she can mutter out for a response to that statement. Why is she so surprised that he doesn't actually have any idea what he's talking about? She shouldn't be, really. "Of course you don't." She says, shrugging her shoulders in defeat and watches as the doctors finally get close enough to grab him.

After a very troublesome episode of getting him back into the reality zone again, they eventually manage to bring him back to his room, get him dressed _and_ put on the straightjacket before giving him his medicine. Once everything is back in order and her granddad is somewhat calm, Katelyn glances out through the window in his room. Her mother is sitting in the car still, talking to someone on the phone. She highly doubts it's her dad she's talking to. A friend maybe… though she's sure she hasn't made a single one since they moved here. Not that she had any before that. It could be someone from work, like a coworker. Her mother leans back in the seat, a smile on her face as she keeps talking to the other person on the phone, biting her bottom lip at some point. Definitely not a coworker… unless it's a lover from work? She laughs and her smile grows bigger. Yeah; a lover seems more plausible. Where she met said lover is another story for another day… a day she'd rather never see the light of.

"Say…" A voice from behind her speaks, pulling her mind away from the troubling thoughts. She turns around to find her granddad looking very suspiciously at her from his seat on the bed. "How come you look like a nerd?"

She furrows her brows at him, blinking a few times. _What kind of question is that?_ "Because I am one?" She says with a shrug and raised eyebrows.

"I don't remember my granddaughter being a grandson." He says, not looking convinced of her answer._ Convinced of what though?_

"Astute observation." She says as she has a seat in the chair that's placed in front of the small desk that's in his room. She's not entirely sure why they gave her granddad a room with a desk to sit by and work when all they ever do is put him in that straight jacket – not that she doesn't understand why they put him in the jacket, she completely understands that. She's just not 100% sure why they would put that jacket on and then place him in a furnished room. Maybe it's for them, for whenever they come by to visit?

"Have you always been a grandson?" Ybanus asks, still looking at her with the suspicious look on his face.

She looks at him, meeting his gaze while not making a face. "No." She says, all the while she has no idea what to think or how to feel at the moment, and who's to blame her? An insane person in a straight jacket is literally interrogating her in a manner that suggests they think she's the one who should be the one wearing said jacket.

"Then…" Ybanus starts slowly, twisting his lips while making faces like he's taking his sweet time to figure out how to formulate his thoughts into words that the _"crazy girl"_ can understand. "…if you're not a grand_son_, then that means you're not a _boy…_"

"Correct."

"_So…_" He asks, closing his eyes and biting his bottom lip for a moment before continuing. "…how did you become one? And a _nerd_ boy at that…" Blinking frenetically, he looks at her. "Do you _want_ to be a nerd boy?"

"No." She says plain and simple, staring holes into the wall. However, when the silence in the room grow heavy and she can feel her skin burn from his intense gaze she returns to look at him and finds him still looking at her with that suspicious look on his face, as if he's trying to figure out a riddle of madness. "It's not like that." She says, closing her eyes in defeat.

"Then what's it like?"

"It's… well… it's stupid really. Really, really stupid. You wouldn't understand even if I tried to explain it to you." She says, looking away to continue staring holes into the wall. A small moment goes by before she can feel his gaze burn in her skin again. She looks back only to find him raising an eyebrow of disbelief at her, the expression on his face reading; _try me_. Blowing out a silent sigh through her nose, she sits up straight in the chair and tries to figure out how to put it all so that the mad man can understand – somewhat – what she's saying. "I… I was mistaken for being a boy when I started going to school again… because of my short hair and, I dunno, my teacher just assumed I was a boy." She says with a shrug. "And well… I guess I was too surprised to realize what was happening and before I knew it, everyone at school is convinced that I'm a guy…" She raises a hand from her lap in a gesture but then drops it back, a small slap sounding as it lands on her other hand.

Ybanus remains silent for a moment, as if he's trying to analyze the information that she just laid on him. The longer he remains silent the more she begins to wonder if he's actually understood anything she's said. "So…" He eventually begins. "…you were mistaken for being a boy due to your appearance and then when you figured out what happened… you decided to play the part?" Unable to move his hands, he gestures with his shoulders, eyebrows and head, his tussled green beard swaying from the movement as he locks eyes with her with the picture done.

"Well..." She says, beginning to feel stupid when she hears the facts dropped onto her like that. _Man, she really is stupid for doing this, isn't she?_ "It's… it's not like I _want_ to!" She says, trying to at least redeem herself somewhat.

"Why not? You're the cutest grandson I've ever had!" Ybanus says, actually being genuine, which only draws her to become ever so confused. And slightly insulted. _Should she be insulted?_

"Thank you…?"

A small moment of silence passes, reflecting the lack of words from Ybanus and the exact level of interest that Katelyn has to continue the conversation. "People are making fun of you, aren't they?" His words are sudden and strangely… accurate. She doesn't respond to them, merely shrinks in on herself. "For being a nerd boy." She sighs. "And you're afraid of what might happen when or if you reveal the truth, or if they find out on their own." Brows furrowed, she looks up at him in disbelief. "And so you decided to play the part of being a bullied little boy nerd till the end of High School, get into a college that is either far away or just not on anyone's radar, basically anywhere nobody from your High School will be, hopefully, so that you can avoid drama and confusion and just mosey on with your life the way you originally planned on. As a girl nerd."

Brows furrowed, eyes wide, she's looking at him as if he just could read her mind. "How… did you…?"

"I'm so sorry." He sighs in a strange lamenting way, shaking his head slightly just to add onto the feeling that he's genuinely genuine.

"For what?" She asks, frowning deeper at his apology.

"Insanity seems to be a family trait, I'm afraid."

Rolling her eyes, Katelyn looks away. "Well jeez, thanks for the support." Hearing his giggles at her response makes her feel somewhat better however, and she can't help but smile some – enough for her to keep the conversation going. "Can I ask you something?" She says, returning her gaze back to him.

"Hmmmmm…" He furrows his brows at her, twisting both his lips and his eyebrows. "_Caaan_ you?"

"_May_ I?" She sighs and rolls her eyes, though his beaming joy is worth it she believes. After all, how much fun can one have whilst being locked in a room in a straight jacket all day?

"Yes! Tell me; what is it you want to know?" He giggles.

"When did your beard turn green?" She asks. "Got some mold?"

"Haha!" He laughs at her teasing tone. "Nice though, isn't it? I had it done for my 80th birthday. Gotta treat yerself once in a while, y'know."

Now she's confused. "But… you've recently turned 100, right?" Surely she didn't mistake his age by two whole decades?

"I'm aware of that!" He says. _Oh, well then…_ "What do you think I am? _Crazy?_" He laughs as she remains as silent as she can, staring at his laughing form nearly fall off the bed.

The door suddenly opens and Katelyn's mother enters the room without a word, not looking at any of them. She walks up to stand by Katelyn, by the window, before she turns around to look her father in the eyes, though he doesn't seem to be very interested in that idea. Averting his gaze to the max, staring into the ceiling and down on the floor, all around the room, anywhere and everywhere where she isn't in his direct line of sight. She shakes her head, sighing at his behavior.

"Why where you on the roof?" She asks, getting straight to the point.

"The flies wouldn't get out of my head so I decided to teach them who the boss is." Ybanus answers, beaming with a huge smirk on his face. "I won." He giggles, ever so proud over himself. It's almost adorable. Almost.

"By being naked on the roof and throwing rocks at not only people, but the doctors that are taking care of you?" She deadpans. "Are you serious?"

He eyes her carefully, as if he's trying to think of a way to get out of this discussion. Then a smirk appears on his face, one that Katelyn knows. "Where were you?" He asks, running his tongue across his goldish/brownish teeth. "Katelyn was there, but not you. Why?"

"I don't need to answer your question." Her mother snaps. "You're an insane person who's unable to take care of himself, let alone _think_ for himself."

"I don't need to answer your question." He copies. "I'm your father, which means I'm superior to you no matter how insane I might wish to be!"

"_Wish?_" Katelyn asks. "Does that mean you can control it?"

Unable to answer her question, his daughter steps in the way. Literally. "Katelyn, I think it would be for the best if you headed out for a moment." She says, standing right in front of her daughter as if to shield her from her embarrassment of a father. When Katelyn hesitates she sighs.

"Don't worry luv'." Ybanus says from behind her back. "Shadow Bonnie is going to keep me safe from her wrath."

"Shadow who?"

"_Katelyn!_" Her mother snaps, loudly. "Please."

With no room for any kind of argument or dialogue, Katelyn stands from her seat and treads out of the room. As soon as the door closes behind her she lets out the breath she's been holding in since her mother entered the room. No matter how insane her granddad might be, he's also the only one in the family who's ever listened to her. Not just now, but since always.

The hallway is relatively quiet at the moment. Some of the personnel is treading the halls in different locations and direction, though no one is running, which is a great sign. That means there's no emergency. No emergency is a good thing.

With literally nothing to do or anywhere to go, she pockets her hands and slowly begins to tread down the hallway, heading to the right and just walking straight forward. She makes sure her steps are slow and controlled, keeping an eye out just in case someone managed to escape unnoticed, like Ybanus did… though maybe not so unnoticed as he might think. This is the place where basically every insane person in the city is located after all. Who's to say what may or may not happen? Always expect the unexpected and all that. Then again… if you expect the unexpected, doesn't that mean it's eventually expected…? Maybe they should've just said: Expect EVERYTHING! That would make it a lot easier honestly.

She sighs silently, not that there is anyone there to hear. With a twist to her lips she thinks back to this very morning. What did Eddward and Victoria think when she was being dragged away?

Coming to a stop by the end of the hallway, standing in the middle of a crossing path, she looks down at the floor for a moment before walking to the left, heading in the direction where she knows there are some benches for visitors to sit at. She takes a seat and stares into the wall, much like before. What where their first thought when her mother, not even knocking on the door first, but just made her way into their home, their kitchen, and dragged her off without so much as an explanation to what she was doing.

Okay, that might be a bit of a lie – she did give an explanation, but that was in the car, when they were already on their way here. She only gave an explanation to Katelyn, not the others.

And what a lovely breakfast she was dragged away from! Victoria really was a great cook. She had made waffles and pancakes, buttered toast and a plate with cucumbers and tomatoes if you'd like some, not to mention eggs and bacon as well. All of this was served with some orange juice, coffee and water; your choice. Katelyn's mouth had watered from the smell whereas her eyes had from the sight. Jaw slack and eyes wide, her reaction to the lovely sight had dragged a chuckle out of Eddward, which in itself had dragged Victoria's attention towards the two teens, though she had more of a mournfully happy expression on her face. As if she was trying to suppress sad thoughts with a smile.

Just before she had called them down from Eddward's room for breakfast, the two teens had been talking for a moment about Nazz and Rave. Well, they were about to talk about Rave when they were called down for breakfast. Anyway… talking about her friends is always something Katelyn greatly enjoys but also worries about. She enjoys talking about them because, well, she gets to talk about them and think about them, not to mention preparing an introduction of them. Getting her friends to meet and enjoy each other's companies is always something she hopes for… but that's where her worries come into play – what if they don't? What if, when they meet, they end up hating each other? What if they end up judging her for liking someone like them? What if they end up forcing her to choose between them? She wouldn't be able to do that… she would rather be all alone if it came down to that. But that is also something she's very worried about; being all alone. Though she would much rather be all alone than having to choose between her friends, she's not certain how long she would be able to stand it. After all… _wasn't that part of the reason Rave decided to end his life?_

Shaking her head clear of these distressed thoughts, she tries to focus on something brighter. Like how Eddward didn't seem to mind listening to her talk about a girl he doesn't know and hasn't met, and is struggling with tuberculosis still. He actually seemed interested in hearing the tale of how the two teens met, bonded and eventually became friends. It would've been interesting to see his reaction to Rave, how they met and bonded, though at the same time, it's a rather dark tale. She's both relieved and laments the fact that she didn't get to tell him. Another day perhaps.

The large bell at the center of the building sounds its alarm, telling everyone that it's currently 12 o'clock, midday – the usual time for people to get some lunch whilst at work. It really comes to show by how many of the personnel head out into the halls and all heads in the same direction, towards the asylum's restaurant.

A thought to check in with the Vincent's comes to mind, but when she goes to send a quick text to Eddward she sadly discovers that in her mother's haste this morning, she left the phone behind. Meaning she will eventually have to go to their residence again and ask for her phone back… and her backpack! Good grief – she left everything at their place! Hopefully they're not to mad about that. She's gonna have to apologize to them when she meets them next time, possibly later today. Scratching her head, she tries to think out an apology that not only sounds good but will explain things in a way that doesn't make it seem like an excuse of some sort. It doesn't go to well.

The big bell sounds again, telling everyone that the lunch hour is officially over and done with. It's now 1 o'clock and high time for everyone to get back to work. Leaning back in her seat, Katelyn watches as personnel of different types and with different outfits head in the opposite direction than before, now leaving the restaurant and heading back to do their tasks. That's when it suddenly hits her that she has literally been sitting on this bench for an entire hour – and her mother is still nowhere to be seen! Is she still talking to Ybanus, or has she taken off somewhere else?

Standing up from the bench, she draws some attention from some of the staff members as she leans back into it from losing her balance – she stood up to quick. After that, she's off to go and find her mother. She starts with heading back to Ybanus' room, finding it empty for a change, which means that his current doctor has taken him out to do some mental exercises… which usually, last time she checked, doesn't require a family member. And so, the hunt goes on for a while. It takes her about ten minutes of searching before she finds herself at the parking lot, looking for the familiar head of hair. She eventually finds it, in their car. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she braces herself for what she might walk in on, remembering the phone conversation she witnessed her having in the car earlier. However this time, there's no phone in her hand. Coast should be clear.

"Hey." She says carefully as she opens the door to the passenger seat, sitting down. The moment her belt clicks into place she can hear the infamous sigh.

"Where were you?" Her mother asks. "I've been waiting here for at least half an hour."

"I was inside, sitting on a bench and waiting for you to finish talking to grandpa." She answers, pointing back at the building with her thumb.

Her mother looks at her. "Why didn't you text me?"

"I don't have my phone with me."

Silence fills up the car for a moment before realization dawns on her. "Oh, right." She says. "I almost forgot you spent the night there." She then gives her a very judgmental look. "Did you have fun?"

"What?" She asks, confused at her mother's sudden change in tone and just… the way she looks at her makes her feel very uneasy. "What do you mean; did you have fun? Sure, I had fun. As much fun as you can have from being kicked out by your own dad and then being found wandering around the neighborhood by your friend's mom who brings you home with her and gives you a place to sleep so you won't have to sleep on the streets!" She breathes heavily, feeling anger rising up from the pit of her stomach and yet she has no clear idea why. Well, she kind of knows why she's angry – because of the way her mother is looking at her, judging her, and the way she talks to her shows how she feels about her at the moment. But what was she supposed to do? She did try and tell them no, but Victoria wouldn't hear it! Come to think of- "And what about you?" She asks, catching her mother off guard if the expression is anything to go by. "Who were you talking to on the phone earlier? I saw you from the window in gramps room, looking _very_ interested in the conversation you were having. Who where you talking to, hmm?"

The sound of skin slapping against skin echo in the car and Katelyn's head is forced in a different direction by her mother's hand. Heavy breathing is the only thing that can be heard at the moment, as the two of them makes no attempt in confronting each other… for a moment.

"Don't…" Her mother says – her voice tight and stiff. "Do not." She holds her hand up in the air between them, still slightly open after slapping her in the face, slightly pointing in her direction as to sharpen her point some.

One moment passes before she locks her eyes in front of herself, doing everything she can to not look at her daughter the way her father had attempted to not look at her earlier. A family trait, perhaps?

The car starts up and she drives them out of the parking lot, away from the institute. The stinging sensation in Katelyn's cheek is slowly ebbing away, turning into the warm and numbing feeling of hurt and tender skin. There's bound to be a red handprint on it in due time, if there isn't one there already. She closes her eyes and leans against the door on her side, letting her mind enjoy the silence that rules the vehicle at the very moment, the same silence none of them are eager to break. It's almost soothing, in a way. Though she knows the ride isn't that long and will most likely end before she's ready for it to or even wants it to, she manages to find the peace she wants from it – not feeling the stressed emotion of '_I know it will end soon so I better enjoy it __**now**_'.

"Are you gonna spend the night there again?" Her mother's voice cuts in. She opens her eyes and sits up straight to look over at her, noticing how she still refuses to look at her.

Feeling her daughter's gaze burn in her skin she continues. "Might as well. I still haven't managed to put out the fire you caused when you left."

"When I was kicked out." Katelyn corrects. "And it's not like I wanted that to happen. Seriously, why would I want something like that?"

Silence again – _sweet and pure silence_. Though this time they both know it's going to end soon, and not in a good way. "Don't bother thinking about coming home soon." Her mother says. "I'll let you know when you can. Unless he does before me."

She shrugs. That's all she can give as an answer, honestly.

The drive returns to the silence, however this time it is not as comfortable as it was before. I wonder why. She kills a sigh and leans back against the door on her side, trying to relax like she did before, but she can't. The same emotions and thoughts are returning to her, the ones that drove her to wander on and about so much when she was kicked out yesterday. Will they be ok with her staying there for another night? Especially after her odd/rude depart this morning – not to mention that she left all of the things she brought with her when she left. What if they decide to kick her out to? Where will she go then?

She closes her eyes tightly, trying her best to fight off the dark 'what if' thoughts, but she can't. No matter how hard she tries they remain where they were, as if they're immune to her. Why did it have to be this way? All she had to do was to just stand up straight in front of the class and tell them that the teacher was mistaken. That's it. That was all she had to do – to just take a step forward and speak out loud that her name isn't 'Kevin', but Katelyn. However, did she think that far ahead then and there? No, of course she didn't; because, as much as she hates to admit it, her bullies were right when they called her a _dumb_ nerd. A dumb, stupid, nerd that doesn't know how to not get herself into trouble, who always finds way to make things harder and worse for herself no matter what options she might be given.

A bump in the road draws her to open her eyes again, waking her up from her own mind. The first thing she sees is the sky dressed in an endless gown of grey, heavy clouds that just may bring another rain shower at any moment. The second thing she sees is the cul-de-sac, coming closer and closer, and no matter how dark and cold the sky might be; all she can feel is sunshine on her skin.

Her mother drives up to their drive-in, stopping the car just in front of it before looking at her daughter sitting next to her. She's already told her what the situation is like, and it seems like there's no need for any repetition as Katelyn is already on her way to get out of the car. Removing the seat belt and stepping out of the car, Katelyn gives her mother one final glance before closing the door without a word and starts treading across the street, headed towards the Vincent's residence. The fact that her mother is still waiting in the car, staring at her, is driving her to walk with confident and steady steps, but the dark thoughts are refusing to let her mind be anything like that. What will happen when she knocks on the door? One out of many things: They might not be at home, due to work and school, which means she will have to go back to her mother and beg her to let her into their home (as the key is still in her backpack which she unfortunately left behind when her mother collected her this morning, meaning she won't be able to unlock it). They might not want to let her in after her rude depart that morning, maybe even be angry at her for leaving her stuff behind just like that, which in the end would mean she would end up asking for her stuff back before going back to her mother and beg to be let in. Then… then there's the chance that they will let her in again… which will only serve to torture her so much more as her feelings and thoughts will be ripping her apart inside out.

She comes to a stop, already finding her standing in front of the door that hides the one of the many different outcomes of the simple act; knocking on it. A moment passes without her doing anything, just staring at the door, waiting for something to happen… anything. She bites her lips when nothing happens, but then again, what did she expect? Shaking her head at the ridiculousness, she eventually manages to drive herself to just ringing the bell that she just remembered where there the whole time. She rolls her eyes at herself. How can someone be as stupid as her? It doesn't make any logical sense, and yet, here she is.

The bell rings, a soft and nice tune she doesn't recognize and she worries slightly that it will never end, but it does. A short and nice melody – not too long or too loud to make you worried. Seconds pass, and another worry forms in her guts – the one where she feels like she might be rotting alive. They're not home, are they? She bites her lips but still refuses to leave, her feet locked into position. Her mother's gaze burns in her neck, but she just won't move – she can't. It's almost like her own body won't accept what's happening and she doesn't know what to do to make it stop-

Movement catches her attention. Light being turned on in the living room and the sound of soft footsteps against and equally soft carpet reaches her ears as they approach the door. The small window in the door reveal a tall dark shadow and soon she can hear the door being unlocked – she immediately knows who it is and she can't help but wanting to cry, for multiple reasons. Eddward opens the door and it is apparent that he is greatly surprised to see her there – teary eyed not to mention. _Is crying literally the only thing she's good for? _He looks at her but doesn't say anything, the expression on his face letting her know just how little he knows when it comes to proper response in a situation like this. To be fair; she wouldn't know how to response either were she in his shoes. He raises his gaze, looking over her shoulder for a short moment, the expression on his face changes and he suddenly appears to be a little angry… or maybe that's concern? Is he seeing the car in the background? Possible.

She's just about to ask him for her things when he moves out of the way, inviting her in without a word. She meets his eyes for a moment before she gives a nod and walk into the familiar, warm, cozy home. A few steps in and she turns around, finding him still standing there looking at the car in some sort of a stare down. It draws a smile from her, but it soon vanishes when the car turns and drives away, her mother leaving her there.

* * *

_Ybanus is a character my previous boss' boyfriend came up with and that I promised more than 3 years ago that I would bring into one of my stories. I was hoping it would've been a smoother introduction than it turned out to be, but that's just how it worked out I guess. I did mention him shortly at the end of a previous chapter… can't remember which one though… Hopefully you will like him, as he will appear again later on. _

_Also: __**P.A.T.R.E.O.N.**__ can all of you see that? Good. I've been trying to ask you about it for a while now only to realize this month that Fanfiction doesn't like me mention that website, so it had it removed as soon as I put it in my author's notes. Anyway; does anyone here use it? If so, can you please tell me a little about it and how it works? I've been trying to get in touch with them but I haven't heard anything from them yet._


	16. Chapter 16

_On the outside you're the brightest, but on the inside you need a torch… what's that all about?_

* * *

**Chapter 16**

_A brighter place in mind_

He takes a deep breath, holds it in for ten seconds and then he lets it out again. A headache is approaching steadily and he really hopes it won't become a bad one… the clock ticking in the background isn't helping. He opens his eyes and looks around in the secretary office/room where he's currently waiting for the principal to call him in. In all honesty he has no idea why he's been called in here – he actually can't remember the last time he was in a fight or caused a scene, so to speak. Last time he was talking to the principal was when John attempted to run over Kevin with his motorcycle, and that was nearly about a week ago, he thinks. After all, Kevin was kicked out of his house by his parents – for whatever reason – the same day that John pulled his stunt; which was a Monday. Today is Thursday, the week after that little stunt, which means it's about a week and a half since he was here to speak with the principle – but even so, that day he came to the principle on his own accord whereas this time he's been called in.

A burning feeling in his guts does everything it can to convince him that whatever has happened to get him called in like this is something bad, but then the reasoning, logical part of his mind kicks in and argues against it, explaining how he hasn't done anything wrong or bad at all – which he hasn't. Suddenly the door to the principal's office opens, the man himself standing in the doorway. He's smiling – _a good sign…?_

"Eddward!" He says, smile remaining intact. "Come in, come in! I have something important and possibly exciting to discuss with you."

Like a literal living question mark, Eddward stands up from his seat and follows the man into his office to take a seat in front of his desk. So far it would seem like this visit is not due to something bad happening, or something he's done or been framed for. But that doesn't answer any questions though – it just makes even more appear.

"How is Kevin doing by the way?" The principal asks while he sits down. "I haven't seen him in a while and also not heard if anything's happened to him. He's good?"

"I do believe he is." Eddward answers. "He's doing better with his arm and from what I can tell the internal bleeding has healed."

"Good, that's good." He nods as Eddward speaks. "He's been through a lot, hasn't he? He's a tough kid, despite being rather small for his age."

"I… suppose?"

"He's got good grades to. Not necessarily the best ones we've seen, but they are above average in most regards. You can tell that he truly cares about his classes, about school."

At that Eddward chuckles, remembering all the times Kevin's been on his neck about attending class and caring about his grades. "You can say that again." He smiles for a short moment before a thought crosses his mind. "I'm sorry, but why are we discussing Kevi-"

"I've also heard that he's been really supportive of you, trying to push you into starting to attend classes again." Watching Eddward nod – although seeming a bit confused – he smiles. "I'm guessing you're wondering why I called you in here to talk about Kevin."

"Well… yes." Eddward answers truthfully only to see the principal's secretary enter the room with some papers and a smile. She hands the principal the papers and leaves. "Is there something wrong?" He asks. "Did something happen that I should know about?"

"No and yes." The principal says, looking at the papers with the smile on his face still intact. "No as in; nothing bad has happened. Yes as in; yes you should know about this, and I'm about to tell you about it. I just have to-" Ending his sentence early, he takes a pen and swirls his signature at the bottom of one of the papers the secretary handed over to him. Once that's done he picks the paper up and holds it out for Eddward to take. He doesn't.

Looking at the paper the principal is holding he's able to tell that it is in fact a schedule – a schedule that's almost identical to Kevin's one, but with _his_ name on it. "What is this?" He asks.

"First off; I would like to apologize for the immense delay to get this all sorted out and ready. There are many steps that has to be made before a brand new and personalized schedule can be evaluated and officially printed – not to mention accepted by the school system. First you have to count the amount of points the student need in order to be allowed to graduate, count how many they've gathered so far, what sort of classes match up to those points but also match with the student in question and the direction they wish their studies to be in. Then the principal has to accept it, send it further down the line to have it checked and accepted by the higher ups and then sent back so that I can finally sign it and hand it over to the student it's meant for." And with that he holds it out further towards Eddward.

Eyes wide, mouth slack in a loss of words, Eddward looks at the paper the principal is holding out towards him. It takes him a small moment to fully register what he said, and once he has he slowly but surely reaches out to grab the schedule – his new schedule – to look it over. They've changed all of his classes to match up with Kevin's schedule. The only difference there is between them is the added swimming practices that Eddward has after school sometimes.

"Counting all of the new classes we've added, plus the ones you've attended with Kevin whilst still being on your old schedule, combined with the results you've gotten on all your tests so far – _plus a bit of a fighting between me and a man who shan't be named_ – your overall grade lands on a solid C." The man smiles at him, but as soon as he can see that Eddward's about to say something he raises his hand, his smile still intact. "However, this being you current overall grade, that doesn't mean there aren't any room for you to improve it. Remember; your current grade is based off of the points you've managed to gather from scoring perfect test results so far, attending some of Kevin's classes and the _idea_ of you attending all of your classes on your new schedule. That means your overall grade can and will be improved by getting A's or A+'s on every test throughout the school year. You can also boost it by doing some after school activity, if you'd like, by joining a club or a sport team; like the _swimming team_, and of course by attending all of their practices."

Eddward's eyes are as wide as they can be. The principal merely smiles at him – a knowingly smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"Do that, and your overall grade will easily improve to, perhaps, a B or even a B+." The principal chuckles as he stands up from his desk. "Or you might even surprise me and reach an overall A, what with that brain of yours." He walks around his desk and stands by Eddward, his smile warmer as he places a firm hand on his shoulder. "Congratulations. College is once again within your reach."

For the first time in his life, Eddward feels as if time's arrow has slowed down, maybe even stopped moving. Though he knows that's not accurate, nor even possible, he can't help but feel like it is what's happening right now. He wakes up from his thoughts when the principal turns around and heads back to sit at his desk again.

"_Secondly;_" He says. "The reason why I brought up Kevin at the start is, well," He pauses for a moment and looks at the paper in Eddward's hands before continuing. "You've seen the schedule – I think you might be able to piece it together."

Eddward chuckles. "I believe so too."

"We all know that you've had it rough Eddward. There's no questioning that." Another pause from the man before he continues. "This school's supposedly proudest representation is, ironically, how well it handles its different grouped students; it's tolerance for diversity and intolerance for bullying." He sighs heavily. "It is, I believe, every school's goal to be seen as a safe place for students to come and learn without being harassed in any way. It is something that I fight to achieve, something that every teacher _should_ fight to achieve." He says, emphasizing the key word in his statement. "I am aware that some teachers, a very certain one that also shan't be named, has a hard time to look passed a student's previous behavior or might've misunderstood a certain scenario where a student might've come out looking bad. I know this, because I have spoken to her about it time and time again. _Thank god she's about to retire…_" He mutters slightly to himself. "Anyway – my point with this rant is that I know; I know, Eddward, that you've had it rough throughout your life, not only at school but in your private life as well. I may not know details about what's happened in your life, but I know enough to understand why school hasn't been your top priority. And I also know that it might not seem like I have given a care about you or any other student since I'm always hiding away in my office, but I do care about you, Eddward. I care about all of my students. There have been times where teachers have come to me with demands to have you suspended for different reasons, some that have been somewhat true which unfortunately have given me little to no choice but to follow through with the suspension. But there have also been times where they have wanted me to expel you, because of you not attending any of your classes, and those times I have always sent them away, letting them know that it's not going to happen."

"Sir…?"

"I'm not saying this to make me seem like a hero, Eddward." He says. "I'm saying this to let you know that I see you. I see you Eddward. I see where you come from but I also see where you're going. I see the potential you hold within you, the strength you possess that has gotten you this far and will continue to carry you even further in life. I believe in you Eddward, just like Kevin does. That is why I decided to have your schedule changed to match his. I have heard from his teachers, not yours, about you attending their classes, taking notes, doing homework – moving forward." Letting out a deep breath, he looks at Eddward, noting how he's got the teens attention in a way he's never seen before. "My grandfather used to tell me that 'It takes an outsider to see what's wrong on the inside, and how to fix it'. In my eyes, Kevin is that outsider. He's seen you in a way that I could only hope to see my students in, because he's not only seen you and your 'inside', but he's seen a way how to fix it and he's doing it. I know you've been alone for a long time Eddward and I'm very glad that you've found a friend like him; someone you can trust. Make sure to take care of this relation you have with him, because friends like him – they don't grow on trees."

A familiar feeling, though in a new and unusual form, washes over him like wave of salt water as he listens to the principal's words. For a moment it's hard for him to form words. "I will." He nearly whispers out, clears his throat to continue. "I promise you; I will."

The principal smiles. "Then that is all." He then nods towards the door. "Have a good day."

Smiling in return, Eddward stands up from his seat and heads out of the office, his new schedule in hand, feeling slightly elated as he walks through the secretary room and out into the hallways. The lunch bell has already rung, meaning there's no one left in the classrooms; no reason to go back there. He passes by a few students on his way to the lunchroom, searching for his small ginger friend, some of them looking at him as if he's a brand new face for them all – _is his expression really altered due to the news the principal gave him?_

He tries not to think about the glances he receives, though it's hard. It almost feels like… like how it was at the very beginning; the surprised looks, the uncertain eyes and expressions of people who didn't really know how to handle his presence. No one was able to read him, understand him, due to the variety of different rumors that had already spread around town about his mother, her job and clients and all that – rumors that would later grow around him, evolve around him and his persona; making him into a character nobody could really understand and then later on, the character nobody really wanted to understand, let alone be around. He had been so young back then, too young, not fully understanding the purposes of the side glances, the lengths of the rumors and what they told about him – why nobody seemed to want to get to know him or become friends. So many different things he had tried to do just to make amends with people, even if he hadn't done anything to them at all. He had tried being nice and polite, joining the chess club, and he tried being casual, dressing like everyone else and eased down on his grammar and stopped correcting people when they slurred. When none of that worked he ended up trying to be mischievous which had led him to meet Eddy, and later on Ed. He had been so desperate he hadn't seen the facts that where clear as blue skies; that Eddy wasn't looking for someone to be friends with, but a puppet to send out whenever he needed something done. Though he may not remember it, but he was indeed the one who forced Eddward to learn the hard way that Jamison White, Jimmy's father, did indeed own a shotgun – a lesson that ended with nasty head wounds his mother had freaked out over, wounds that now has healed but will forever be remembered from their scars; _scars that he keep hidden at all times with his beanie._

Loud chattering sounds echoes down the hallway, waking him up from his thoughts. He's arrived at the lunchroom. Looking around for a moment as he steps inside, it doesn't take him long before he spots a familiar red head wave a hand at him, trying to catch his attention. Eddward smiles at him and waves back. He notices that he's sitting with someone, a teal headed student. _Oh joy, wonder who that could be._ As soon as the thought hits him he shakes his head, not being ready to have his still uplifted mood taken from him that quickly, and steps into the now short line to get himself something to eat.

With his food paid for and carefully placed onto a tray, he makes his way to where Kevin and Nathan are currently sitting. Still feeling how his steps are a little lighter than they were earlier, he tries to be just a little slower than he usually is, just so that he can enjoy the odd feeling a bit more. He arrives at the table in a short moment, hearing some of their conversation.

"Seriously!" Nathan gasps as he nearly throws his hands into the air to emphasize the word. "It's 500 dollars! Why would you buy shoes for 500 dollars if you know they'll melt if they touch each other?!" His voice is loud, almost reaching falsetto tones. He doesn't notice Eddward sitting down next to Kevin. "And not only that but who in their rightful mind would come with a material, look at it, understand how it works – know that it will melt if it touches itself – and then go; 'yeah let's make a shoe out of that!'" He claps his hands on his head before throwing them into the air once more, bewildered. "Like, seriously, what do they even tell their customers when they sell them?! Are they being all like; '_Oh, yeah, these shoes are the absolute best in the world. Just make sure to keep them as faaaar away from each other as you possibly can – like if you can walk down the street while repeatedly doing the split that would be awesome!_'"

Kevin is nearly jumping in his seat from choking down his laughter. Whether he's laughing at the poor impression Nathan just pulled off or the confused expression that Eddward is currently wearing, well – Eddward doesn't know. All he knows is that Nathan finally seems to notice him as he turns his head in his direction.

"Or what do you think Double Delicious?"

Eddward doesn't change his expression. "I will be honest with you Nathan; I do not know what you are talking about." Kevin laughs even harder. Eddward looks at him, eyebrow slightly raised. "Are you alright Pumpkin?"

Kevin shakes his head in response, still full of laughter. His head has turned red and there's tears gathering in his eyes. Eddward can hear Nathan starting to laugh as well. Whatever they were talking about must've been funny. "I'm so sorry…!" Kevin gasps between his chuckles, sounding almost like a child. "I just – I just couldn't get the image out of my head! Of someone walking down the streets like that!"

"Doing the splits?" Nathan chuckles – even more when Kevin nods in response.

"Ye-yeah!" He gasps before laughing again. "And then- then Eddward just- I turn to look at Edd and his face is just _GOLDEN!_"

A smile pulls on Eddward's lips. "Ah, so you were laughing at me as well. I was wondering."

"I'm so-orry!" Kevin giggles out, and then slowly but surely, the two boys finally manage to calm down a notch. "Oh, man. That was good." Kevin exhales his last chuckle.

"I could tell."

Lunch marches on rather normally after that moment, the three boys eating together whilst talking about this and that – Nathan digging further into the whole situation about the infamous shoes. Eddward doesn't pay too much attention to that, focusing more on his food to sedate his growing hunger. He never knew you could burn so much energy from just talking to a person.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Kevin says out of the blue and turns towards Eddward. "How did it go with the principal? Is everything ok?"

"OH!" Nathan calls out after hearing that, scaring the two teens he's sitting with. "I completely forgot that you mentioned that, Cutie Patootie!" He also turns towards Eddward. "What happened for you to get called in like that? Don't tell me you got into a fight! _How could you?!_ Abandoning poor sweet little Kevin like that! Why, I would never-! _The audacity!_" Turning towards Kevin he gets even more dramatic. "Kevin, Cutie Patootie, I promise you that I will never abandon you like that! Never! I would rather _die_ a horrible, painful death than cross that line and break such trust!"

"Nat!" Kevin says. "Calm down! Everything's fine!"

"Are you _suuuuure?_" Nathan questions further. "It wouldn't be the first time after all."

"You are very correct." Eddward says, drawing their attention towards him. "However in this case, you are incorrect."

"_Oh?_" Nathan perks up at that. "Well then, why were you called in to meet the big boss?"

Eddward looks at him, thinking for a moment before he looks back at Kevin, finding they're equally curious about why he was called in to meet the principal. He would really like to tell Kevin about his new schedule, though he's not so sure if he wants Nathan to have that kind of information about him. "Oh it's nothing to be worried about." He says, lifting his fork to his mouth to eat another bite. Their gazes are burning in his skin but he fights the instinct to look at them.

"So you were just called in there to have a small chat?" Kevin asks after growing tired of waiting.

A smirk replaces Eddward's smile. Kevin doesn't seem to like that. "Why, my dear Pumpkin, are you perhaps a little worried about me?"

Kevin frowns. "Do you really want to start that train up again?" He asks with a boring tone.

Eddward laughs. He laughs straight out so that people around them turn their heads in their direction, as if they've never heard him laugh before. Even Nathan is surprised. "_Oh, dear!_ I almost forgot about that. I'm sorry." He says between giggles. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he breathes out one last little chuckle before he speaks again, looking at Kevin, avoiding Nathan. "It really isn't anything to be worried about, Kevin. Please, do not worry for nothing."

The ginger boy remains silent for a moment. He glances over at Nathan, only to receive a shrug from the other teen. "Well… if you're absolutely sure about it." He says, sounding uncertain.

"I promise you Pumpkin; you have nothing to worry about." He reassures him as best as he can before returning to take a bite out of his meal. "That is…" He chews. "There's nothing you need to worry about when it comes to _me_." He swallows. "However, there might be a reason for you to be a bit worried for _your own_ sake."

Kevin immediately stops eating and looks at him. "What?"

Eddward ignores him and Nathan, focusing entirely on finishing his meal before them. "My word; what a wonderful meal that was." He says once he finishes it.

"Uhm… Eddward…?"

"Double Delish?"

"Why, I do wonder if the lunch lady decided to try out a brand new recipe." He stands up with his tray and empty plate.

"What did you mean by that?" Kevin tries to call after him, but he ignores it.

Turning his back towards the small ginger and the teal head he walks away. "I think I will speak to her about it. Ask where she found it and if she'd be willing to share it with me." He says as he walks, talking to himself as if he can't hear them calling after him.

"But-! Wait!" Kevin calls after him. "_Eddward!_"

Eddward pauses in his movement, turns around to look back at the other two – smirk still intact despite all of the attention they have managed to gather. Kevin is fighting his chair to get out from the table and chase after him, his own meal forgotten. Nathan appears to be way beyond confused about what just happened and doesn't seem to know exactly what to do or how to respond – he's still seated.

Before Kevin is able to defeat the chair and before Nathan is able to gather his thoughts, Eddward heads into the small dishing room, where you're supposed to place your tray after your meal. He leaves just in time to see Kevin kick his chair away from him before hurrying up after him. Nathan has managed to gather some of his thoughts it would seem as he stands from his seat to hurry after them as well – whether he's hurrying after Kevin or him is still up to debate. His smirk only grows as they get closer to him, and just before they're able to reach him he slips out from the lunchroom and shuts the door in front of them to buy himself some time – and to tease them, for fun. It doesn't hold them back for long.

"Eddward!" Kevin calls after him in the hallway. He can hear their footsteps behind him. "What did you mean by that?!"

* * *

_The shoes are not a joke – they're in the shoe store I work in, sitting on a shelf and waiting like a ticking bomb for someone to go and touch them. _

_Not as many words in this chapter as I would've hoped, but what can you do about it? I hope you still like it. I will also say though that we are finally approaching the "darker theme" I originally planned for this story all along, since chapter 1, and I really can't wait to get the ball into motion! It might be a few chapters before it is in motion, but be patient! We're getting there!_

_I am thinking about getting __**p.a.t.r.e.o.n.**__ still… though I'm not sure if I like the idea of putting a prize on my stories… but I really do want to make a living out of it. I really, really do. _

_Also, I might be getting myself a little… how to say… water over the head when it comes to work. I'm currently signed on a contract for 12.5 hours/week though I've been asked to work a lot more in October, and my boss is going to talk with the higher ups if they can change my contracted hours… THEN I get a phone call from another place and they talked to me about maybe filling in some hours for them as well – hours that may land on 5-30 hours/week… o.O __**I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!**_ _They did have other people to talk to about said hours as well and they're gonna contact me Tuesday next week to tell me their decision! _

_Why is this happening?! I just want to write stories…!_


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